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WHY FOUR GOSPELS? 



THE GOSPEL FOR ALL THE WORLD. 



A MANUAL DESIGNED TO AID CHRISTIANS IN THE STUDY 
OF THE SCRIPTURES, AND TO A BETTER UNDER- 
STANDING OF THE GOSPELS. 



BY 



D. S. GREGORY, D. D., 

J 



PROFESSOR OP THE MENTAL SCIENCES AND ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE UNIVERSITY OP 
WOOSTER ; AUTHOR OP "CHRISTIAN ETHICS. 



NEW YORK: 

SHELDON AND COMPANY. 

1877. 
7f 



13* 



*"7 



COPYRIGHT, 1876, 

By D. S. GREGORY. 



RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE! 
STEREOTYPED UY ll. o HOUGBTOK \\l> COMPANY. 



0- 

to 



3 



TO MY WIFE, 

^- 25. «B M 



TO WHOSE CONSTANT ENCOURAGEMENT AND ASSIDUOUS HELPFULNESS 

THE CHRISTIAN PUBLIC OWES WHATEVER OP VALUE THIS 

VOLUME MAY CONTAIN, IT IS, WITHOUT 

HER KNOWLEDGE, 

$(TrrttonntrIi> iBrtficatrtt. 



PREFACE. 



It is admitted on all hands that the central point of 
attack upon Christianity in the present age is found in 
the Gospels. " The life of Jesus," says Tischendorf, " is 
the most momentous of all questions which the Church 
has to encounter, — the one which is decisive whether it 
shall or shall not live." The assailants demand that the 
Christian apologist shall put his system to the test of ex- 
hibiting its philosophic basis and its rational explanation. 
Whether the demand be reasonable or unreasonable, it is 
certain that this scientific age will continue to press its 
questions of why and how. 

While it is absolutely certain that God's Word will 
stand all legitimate tests and remain intact to the end of 
time, it is no less certain that some of the old modes of 
viewing, exhibiting, and defending it must be abandoned 
for others which are more truly scientific, or, in other 
words, more in harmony with the divine truth and 
thought. 

It is a growing conviction in many Christian minds, 
that the most conclusive argument for the divine origin 
of the four Gospels is not that furnished by the external 
evidences but by the Gospels themselves ; that whoever 
can be brought to take a truly scientific view of them, 
that is, to see them as they really are in themselves and 
their relations, will need no further arguments to con- 
vince him that these productions are each and all from 
God. 



VI PREFACE. 

The present work is designed to aid the intelligent 
reader in his efforts to see the Gospels as they really are, 
that they may present their own claims — based upon 
their unity, harmony, completeness, and perfect adapta- 
tion to human needs — to be from God, divinely inspired, 
and worthy of God. It is the application of simple, com- 
mon-sense principles to the study and elucidation of the 
productions of the Evangelists, with the hope that the re- 
sult may be helpful to Christians who would go beyond 
the old conventional methods and seek to gain clearer, 
fresher, truer, and more reasonable views. It is desired 
especially that the present essay may commend the study 
of the Gospels to the minds of that class of thinkers, 
daily increasing, who are to be satisfied only by a rea- 
sonable explanation of the facts, whether of the world or 
of the Word, with which they come in contact. 

The studies which led to this work originated in the 
efforts of a pastor to awaken a new interest on the part 
of his flock in the study of the Word of God. The en- 
couragement received led to the embodiment of portions 
of the subject, in a form different from the present, in a 
series of articles for one of the leading Quarterlies. In 
response to the urgent request of many earnest laborers 
in the Gospel, the thought has been embodied — during 
the intervals of a life filled with most pressing duties — 
in the present form, in order to bring it within the reach 
of a larger number of intelligent readers. Should it be 
owned of God in helping inquiring minds to a clearer 
and more comprehensive view of the Gospel of Christ, 
and to a firmer faith in its Divine origin and aim, the 
highest and chief end of its preparation will be secured. 

Woosteii, 0., October 2, 1876. 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

PAGH 

The Question and the Proposed Answers . 9 

— • — 
PART I. 

THE PURPOSE OF GOD AND THE GOSPEL. 

CHAPTER I. 
The Preparation for the Advent of the Messiah .... 29 

CHAPTER II. 
The Advent and the Written Gospels 56 

PART II. 

MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

CHAPTER I. 

Historical View of the Jewish Adaptation of the First 
Gospel 85 



CHAPTER II. 

Critical View of the Jewish Adaptation of the First 
Gospel 109 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

PART III. 

MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

CHAPTER I. 

Historical View of the Roman Adaptation of the Second 
Gospel 150 

CHAPTER II. 

Critical View of the Roman Adaptation of the Second 
Gospel 169 

PART IV. 

LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

CHAPTER I. 

Historical View of the Greek Adaptation of the Third 
Gospel 207 

CHAPTER II. 

Critical View of the Greek Adaptation of the Third 
Gospel 228 

— ♦ — 
PART V. 

JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

CHAPTER I. 

Historical View of the Christian Adaptation of the 
Fourth Gospel 277 

CHAPTER II. 

Critical View of the Christian Adaptation of the Fourth 
Gospel 299 

CONCLUSION. 
The Gospel for all the World 343 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE QUESTION AND THE PROPOSED ANSWERS. 

Question stated. The one Gospel of Jesus Christ 
appears in the Sacred Scriptures in four forms, — a first, 
according to Matthew ; a second, according to Mark ; a 
third, according to Luke ; and a fourth, according to 
John. Why not in three, or five, or twenty forms ? Or, 
why not, in accordance with a prevailing desire of the 
present age, in only one form ? 

Since the fact of four Gospels cannot be escaped, 
wherein and why do they differ ? Do the order, har- 
mony, and design, which are found everywhere in God's 
world, appear also in that other work of God, his Word ? 
In particular, did the infinite Reason preside in the pro- 
duction of the Gospels, so that we may confidently look 
for a divine plan in each of them considered by itself, 
and a like plan in the whole of them taken together ? 

Answers proposed. For eighteen hundred years, 
these brief productions, occupying but a few pages in a 
single book, have evinced their power to raise such ques- 
tions as these, and to keep the world employed in the 
effort to answer them. 

In all ages thoughtful men, and especially the great 
souls of the Church, have shrunk from looking upon the 
Gospels as aimless and disjointed productions, mere med- 
leys of fact and truth. But in seeking to reach the 
order and unity which their natures craved, they have 
tried different and often irrational methods. 



10 WHY FOUR GOSPELS? 

The harmonists have attempted to construct, from the 
four Gospels regarded as a poorly arranged mass of ma- 
terial, one complete life of Jesus, or, at least, to remove 
the obstacles to the construction of such a life. 

The allegorists, seizing upon certain available script- 
ural symbols, have done their best, in their arbitrary 
and fanciful way, to put aim and plan into the Gospels. 

From such irrational methods, pursued through cent- 
uries with no definite and valuable product of the kind 
sought after, resulted the method and work of the mod- 
ern rationalists. From the despair of plan and aim, or 
the assertion of unreasonable plan and aim, there came, 
as a natural and inevitable reaction against the old un- 
reason, the vehement and unreasoning denial of any plan 
and aim. 

Against all these the method of right reason is now 
vindicating itself. The course of modern progress in 
this, as in so many other fields of investigation, has been 
from irrationalism through rationalism to the true rea- 
son. 

A comprehensive view of this line of work — irra- 
tional, rationalistic, and truly rational — of the past cent- 
uries, will best open the way for a new attempt to solve 
the old and ever-recurring problem. 

SECTION I. 
THE HARMONISTS. 

The Christian Fathers seem to have made little effort 
to find any plan in the Gospels. Very early, however, 
they began to produce what may, in a loose way, be 
called Lives of Christ. These did not so much aim to 
explain apparent discrepancies, or even to ascertain the 
exact chronological order of the events, as to reduce the 
four Gospels to one continuous narrative. They were 



THE HARMONISTS. 11 

unlike the modern so-called Lives ; for although in those 
as in these the writings of the Evangelists were torn 
member from member, yet the scattered members were 
not wholly whelmed in a flood of weak and vapid senti- 
ment, nor entirely lost in the mazes of a cheap but am- 
bitious rhetoric. They shared with some of the moderns 
the error, that uninspired man can give a better form to 
the material of the Evangelists than the divine form 
given by inspiration ; but they did not share with them 
the more monstrous modern error, that uninspired man 
can improve upon the divine material by adding to it 
either his profound philosophy or his sentimental twad- 
dle. 

As early as A. D. 170, Tatian the Syrian compiled his 
Diatessaron, — that is, his Gospel according to the four 
Evangelists, — a work now lost. It was substantially a 
life of Christ, compiled in accordance with the view of its 
author, that the ministry of Jesus lasted only one year. 

Ammonius of Alexandria prepared a similar work, 
about A. D. 220, which he entitled a Harmony. He 
divided the four Gospels into short Sections, which he 
numbered according to the order in which they were to 
be placed in his combined Gospel or Harmony. 

The Canons of Eusebius, A. D. 315, was in fact a 
harmony upon a somewhat different plan from the 
Ammonian Sections. There are ten of the Canons or 
Tables, — one exhibiting the Sections common to all the 
Gospels ; three, those common to any three of the Gos- 
pels ; five, those common to any two ; and one, those 
peculiar to any one Gospel. Very little advance has 
been made upon the work of Ammonius and Eusebius in 
this direction. 

The necessity for explaining in a systematic way the 
apparent discrepancies of the Gospels made itself felt at 
a later date. The best known, and, perhaps, the most 



12 WHY FOUR GOSPELS? 

valuable of the Harmonies, constructed under pressure 
of this necessity, is that of Robinson (A. D. 1845), based 
upon the earlier works of Newcome (1778) and Le Clerc 
(1699). In the class of works of which it is the repre- 
sentative, learning the most varied and profound has 
been brought to bear in the discussion of times, places, 
and circumstances, with the aim of reconciling apparent 
discrepancies and contradictions, and of arranging the 
material of all the Gospels in exact chronological order 
in one narrative. 

The Harmonists have done good and worthy work so 
far as they have assisted to explain the apparent incon- 
sistencies of the Gospels and to make the true relations 
of the various portions better understood. So far, how- 
ever, as they have undertaken to construct one continuous 
and complete narrative of the career of Jesus of Naza- 
reth, they have attempted an impossible task. There 
are no sufficient data upon which to base a just conclu- 
sion concerning the precise time when many of the events 
recorded in the Gospels occurred. It will appear subse- 
quently in this discussion, that it was no part of the aim 
of the Evangelists to give a complete account of the life 
of Jesus strictly arranged in the order of time. Their 
chronology is clear and distinct, at the most, only in the 
opening and concluding chapters. But even if the exact 
time of each event could be ascertained, it would still be 
impossible to combine the four Gospels in one consistent 
whole. The writers were themselves unlike in nature 
and culture, and so the style of each is different from 
that of all the others. They wrote, as will be shown, 
for different classes of readers, each class requiring a dif- 
ferent mode of presentation. Each of them looked at 
Jesus from a different point of view. Some one lias 
compared their four productions to four photographs of 
the four different sides of a house, — each is distinct, 



THE HARMONISTS. 13 

and the four sides could not possibly be taken in one 
picture. 

Results. It is hardly too much to affirm that the 
efforts to make a complete and harmonious whole out of 
the Gospels have failed. 

Says Dr. Isaac Da Costa : " Unhappily by far the 
most of these Harmonies, for want of any principle of 
solution drawn from the very nature and organical con- 
struction of these writings, have contributed rather to 
embarrass than to resolve the problem, owing to the 
purely mechanical and forced manner in which its solu- 
tion has been attempted." 1 

Dr. J. Addison Alexander, in an article on Harmonies 
of the Gospels, ably sums up the whole matter. " What 
then, it may be asked, is the use of all this harmonistic 
labor, from the second to the nineteenth century ? We 
answer, much every way — or rather, every way but 
one — and that the very one on which the heart of the 
harmonical interpreter is often set — the undesirable, im- 
practicable, and chimerical reduction of these four ines- 
timable gems to one bright but artificial compound. The 
true use of Harmonies is threefold, Exegetical, Histori- 
cal, Apologetical. By mere juxtaposition, if judicious, 
the Gospels may be made to throw light upon each 
other's obscure places. By combination, not mechanical 
but rational, not textual but interpretive, harmonies put 
it in our power, not to grind, or melt, or boil four Gos- 
pels into one, but out of the four, kept apart, yet viewed 
together, to extract one history for ourselves. And 
lastly, by the endless demonstration of the possible solu- 
tions of apparent or alleged discrepancies, even where we 
may not be prepared to choose among them, they reduce 
the general charge of falsehood or of contradiction, not 
only ad absurdum, but to a palpable impossibility. How 

1 The Four Witnesses, p. 4. 



14 WHY FOUR GOSPELS? 

can four independent narratives be false or contradictory, 
which it is possible to reconcile on so many distinct hy- 
potheses ? The art of the most subtle infidelity consists 
in hiding this convincing argument behind the alleged 
necessity of either giving a conclusive and exclusive an- 
swer to all captious cavils and apparent disagreements, 
or abandoning our faith in the history as a whole. This 
most important end of Gospel Harmonies has been ac- 
complished. It has been established, beyond all reason- 
able doubt, that however the Evangelists may differ, and 
however hard it may be often to explain the difference, 
they never, in a single instance, contradict each other. 
This is a grand result, well worthy of the toil bestowed 
upon it by the Fathers and Reformers and Divines for 
eighteen hundred years ; while, on the other hand, the 
minute chronology, which some of these have viewed as 
the great object to be aimed at, is as far from its com- 
plete solution now as in the days of Tatian or Augus- 
tine ; so that the inquirer may still say to the most able 
harmonists, with one of Terence's dramatic characters : 
Fecistis probe, incertior sum multo quam dudum ! " x 

When one has clearly grasped the characteristics of 
each of the Gospels, the attempt to mass them all in one, 
while preserving the glory of each, will appear as absurd 
as would the attempt of an architect to construct, from 
the materials of Solomon's Temple, of the Parthenon, of 
the Coliseum, and of Westminster Abbey, a new temple 
which should preserve and harmoniously combine the 
peculiar features of them all, and be neither Jewish, 
Greek, Roman, nor Gothic. 

1 Princeton Review, vol. xxviii. p. 395. 



THE ALLEGORISTS. 15 



section n. 

THE ALLEGORISTS. 

"While the Harmonists have been engaged in their im- 
possible task, another class of minds, delighting in alle- 
gory and given to imagination, has been engaged upon a 
work equally impossible. The Cherubim of Ezekiel and 
the Four Living Creatures of the Apocalypse have 
played as important a part in their interpretation of the 
Gospels as the cycles and epicycles played in the theories 
of the old astronomers. There are four Gospels and 
there are four of these figures of prophecy. Is not that 
a wonderful coincidence ? Besides, have not all script- 
ural symbols an inexhaustible fullness of mystic, pro- 
phetic signification and application? Why, then, were 
not those symbols of Ezekiel and John intended by the 
Spirit of God to symbolize the four Evangelists, — or, at 
least, those aspects of the person and office of Christ 
which they respectively exhibit in their Gospels ? Who 
could say they were not so intended ? 

Irenams, Bishop of Lyons in the second century, be- 
gan with the vision of the four Cherubim, in the first 
chapter of Ezekiel. That vision, in its symbolical mean- 
ing, he applied to the distinctive peculiarities of the Gos- 
pels. " As for the likeness of their faces, they four had 
the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right 
side ; and they four had the face of an ox on the left 
side ; they four also had the face of an eagle." The 
man, according to Irenaeus, symbolizes Matthew's Gos- 
pel ; the lion, Mark's ; the ox, Luke's ; the eagle, John's. 
So happy a thought could not fail, in the circumstances, 
to perpetuate itself. The later Fathers adopted and de- 
veloped the idea of Irenaeus. At the end of two centu- 
ries, Jerome completed the development, and proposed 



16 WHY FOUR GOSPELS? 

that special arrangement and application of the symbols 
which the Latin Church adopted, and which Art has 
perpetuated. His order is that of Ezekiel. 

The Rhemist fathers interpreted and applied the 
vision, in accordance with this order of Ezekiel and 
Jerome. " St. Matthew is likened to a man, because he 
beginneth with the pedigree of Christ, as he is a man ; 
St. Mark to a lion, because he beginneth with the 
preaching of St. John the Baptist, as it were the roaring 
of a lion in the wilderness ; St. Luke to a calf, because 
he beginneth with a priest of the Old Testament (to wit, 
Zacharias, the father of John Baptist), which priesthood 
was to sacrifice calves to God ; St. John to an eagle, be- 
cause he beginneth with the divinity of Christ, flying as 
high, as more is not possible." This is plainly worse 
than childish, — absurd ! It explains nothing. It opens 
to view no aim or harmony before invisible. 

The great Augustine was dissatisfied with the expla- 
nation of Irenseus. So were some even before his day, 
and more after it. He preferred the order in John's 
vision of the Four Living Creatures, as found in Reve- 
lation iv. 7 : " And the first beast was like a lion, and 
the second beast was like a calf, and the third beast had 
a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying 
eagle." Matthew's Gospel, according to this view, is 
symbolized by the lion, because he sets forth Christ as 
the Lion of the tribe of Judah ; Mark's by the calf or 
ox, because he exhibits Christ as the servant in a life of 
patient, humble service ; Luke's by the man, because he 
hold's forth Christ as the perfection of humanity ; John's 
by the eagle, because of his heavenward gaze and flight 
in unfolding the mysteries of Christ's Deity. This was 
better, — if anything better be attainable by a method so 
arbitrary, — for it suggests a half-truth in connection with 
each of the first three Gospels, to which Jerome's inter- 



THE ALLEGORISTS. 17 

pretation did not open the way. Still there was room 
for new efforts in attaching to the Gospels the symbols 
of these prophets of the two dispensations. 

Among the latest adaptations is that of Lange, in his 
" Life of Jesus," — an adaptation approved by Stier. 
The ox, the lion, the man, the eagle, is Lange's order. 
His view is presented in his introduction to the commen- 
tary on the Gospel according to Matthew. " The first 
Gospel is preeminently that of history, and of the fulfill- 
ment of the Old Testament by the sacrificial sufferings 
and death of Christ and the redemption thus achieved. 
Hence, the sacrificial bullock is the appropriate symbol 
of Matthew. The second Gospel presents to our minds 
the all-powerful revelation and working of Christ as di- 
rect from heaven, irrespectively of anything that pre- 
ceded, — the completion of all former manifestations of 
the Deity. Symbol, the lion. The third Gospel is pre- 
eminently that of humanity, — human mercy presented 
in the light of divine grace, the transformation of all 
human kindness into divine love. Symbol, the figure of 
a man. Lastly, the fourth Gospel exhibits the deep spir- 
itual and eternal import of the history of Christ, — the 
divine element pervading and underlying its every phase, 
— and with it the transformation of all ideals, in con- 
nection with Christ. Symbol, the eagle." Very differ- 
ent, truly, is the symbol of Lange for Matthew from that 
of Augustine, — the ox, from the lion, — ignoring en- 
tirely the order of divine revelation, — yet with his ex- 
planation it serves to bring out another half-truth con- 
cerning the priestly character of Messiah as taught in 
prophecy and realized in Jesus of Nazareth. 

Results. But accommodating as these symbols of 

prophecy have been, the various and never-ending 

changes in the attempts to apply them to the Gospels 

show most clearly that the thing attempted is purely ar- 

2 



18 WHY FOUR GOSPELS? 

bitrary. Admitting that they may have been of some 
use in the past, in helping to group some of the facts pe- 
culiar to the respective Gospels, — of use just as the 
cycles and epicycles were in the old astronomy, or the 
nebular hypothesis in the modern, — still they are 
scarcely worthy to be taken into serious account in any 
attempt to reach a philosophic and common-sense view of 
the existence and structure of the four Gospels. 

It is not too much to say that the attempts to put a 
plan into the Gospels, in this arbitrary way, have failed 
no less utterly than the attempts of the harmonists to put 
the material of the Gospels into a new form better than 
the divine. 

SECTION in. 

THE RATIONALISTS. 

Out of these irrational modes of treating the Gospels 
has come the modern reaction, which has taken form, on 
its worst side, in Rationalism. The Rationalist accepts 
the failure of the irrational method as conclusive against 
all aim and plan in the Gospels. As the Gospels are a 
medley, they are therefore not from God. Still, the med- 
ley — a very extraordinary one certainly — remains to 
be accounted for. To account for it without the aid of 
the supernatural is the aim of the rationalist. 

Pantheistic form. David Friedrich Strauss, who has 
but recently passed away, was the man who first gave 
literary shape — in his " Life of Jesus," published in 
1835 — to a view of the Gospels which had been for some 
time floating in dim and undefined form in the German 
mind of his age. 

The reality of our Lord's life may be attacked in two, 
and only two, ways ; it may be urged that the Gospel 
history is pure fable, without any better basis of histori- 
cal fact than the " Arabian Nights," or that it is a raixt- 



THE RATIONALISTS. 19 

ure of fact and fable, like the Grecian and Roman le- 
gends, which can only be separated by the aid of critical 
intuition. Strauss took the former method of attack. 

His work was the inevitable last outcome of German 
Pantheism. Pantheism denies a Personal God. The 
Gospel history must therefore be false or at least mythi- 
cal, because the notion of a Personal God and Creator of 
men, and of a Son of God, revealing the will of the 
Heavenly Father, is unphilosophical, — a dream of su- 
perstition, and not a truth of reason as expounded by its 
latest and highest prophet, Hegel. 1 It was not by his 
science, but by his fundamental hypothesis, the assump- 
tion of the truth of Pantheism, that Strauss aimed to 
rid the world of the Gospel facts. 

His scientific method led him to apply both philosophy 
and criticism to the Gospels, and in bis hands, with the 
truth of Pantheism postulated, both were of course 
equally destructive. 

As Strauss adopted the philosophy of Hegel, we ac- 
cordingly find the Hegelian idea prominent in all his 
speculations on the Gospels. He maintained that he be- 
lieved as an idea what others believed as history. The 
idea is before the facts and creates the so-called facts. 
The need of a deliverer created the idea of a Saviour. 
The old prophecies, misinterpreted, fashioned in the pop- 
ular mind a character to be attributed to that Saviour. 
The whole Gospel history is an attempt of the ruling 
idea of the Jewish race in that age to realize itself in fact. 
The imagination, or my thus, to which the need of a de- 
liverer gave rise, grew in process of time into the great 
four-fold fable of the Gospels. 

The facts in Christianity were temporary, the ideas 
eternal. Christ was the type of humanity. His life, 
death, and resurrection were the symbol of the life, 

1 See Tulloch, Lectures on M. Renan's "Vie dc Jesus," p. 32. 



20 WHY FOUK GOSPELS? 

death, and resurrection of humanity. The former was 
unimportant and temporary, the latter momentous and 
eternal. An exoteric religion for the people might ex- 
hibit the one ; the esoteric for the philosopher might re- 
tain the other. In short, the dogmas of the Gospel are 
true, but the history false. 

With his Hegelian philosophy and criticism, Strauss 
would have done for the Gospels what Niebuhr and Grote 
have done for the Roman and Grecian legends of the 
pre-historic age, given in poetry and tradition ; and he 
would have relegated the Jesus of the Evangelists to the 
same shadowy place in history with iEneas, Hercules, the 
early kings of Rome, and the Brutus of England. It is 
already acknowledged by all competent critics that, in 
spite of all his marvelous learning, the attempt of Strauss 
was, philosophically, a complete and miserable failure. 
Jesus of Nazareth lived not in fabulous but in historic 
times, — in fact, in the most cultivated age of antiquity. 
The four Gospels are, on the very face of them, not 
poems, or legends, or myths, but simple, life-like, histori- 
cal narratives, which could have been produced only by 
or with the aid of eye-witnesses. It can be proved that 
they all existed in their present form before the close of 
the first century, so that no time is anywhere given for 
the growth of the wonderful myths of Strauss. It were 
far easier to prove Julius Caesar a myth, than to prove 
Jesus Christ a myth. The principles by which Strauss 
would prove the life of Jesus a fable, would as readily 
prove the life of Napoleon a fable. 

Positivist form. In the acknowledged failure of 
Strauss is found the secret of the changed plan of attack 
by M. Ernest Renan, in his " Life of Jesus." It is im- 
possible to show the Gospel history to be all fable ; the 
next thing to that is to show it to be a mixture of fact 
and fable. There must be a basis of fact. M. Renan 



THE RATIONALISTS. 21 

will pick it out according to his own taste. He has a 
monopoly of the intuition of Gospel fact. So he gives 
the world his " Fifth Gospel," — his " Life of Jesus." It 
might more appropriately be styled M. Kenan's " Ro- 
mance of Jesus; " since there is no Gospel left in it ex- 
cept what may be found in the author's very French no- 
tions of sentiment and morality. 

This work was the inevitable outgrowth of French 
Positivism. Positivism affirms that the universe is gov- 
erned by necessary law, and its order is therefore un- 
changing. The notion of a personal Will interposing in 
human affairs is therefore incompatible with science. 
The miracles of the Gospels, in short whatever professes 
to be a manifestation of the supernatural or of a per- 
sonal Will, must be false. 1 

The chief problem of positivist criticism must there- 
fore require the separation, by some power of critical 
intuition, of the true in the Gospels from the false, of 
the fact from the fable. To this work Kenan, with his 
brilliant erudition and his still more brilliant style, sets 
himself. 

Renan finds three periods in the life of Jesus. In 
the first, the hero has some features of the Jesus of the 
Evangelists left. M. Renan would make him appear as 
a moralist and a gentle reformer of the noblest and pur- 
est character, according to the attenuated French idea of 
moralist and reformer and of nobility and purity. In the 
second, Jesus is brought under the influence of the 
gloomy Baptist, and his sweet nature is changed by close 
contact with that sterner character. Somehow the notion 
of a strange ideal kingdom gets into his head, and he 
sets about establishing it. In this he fails, and the 
third period is marked by a radical change of character 
and conduct. Disappointed and embittered, he raves 
1 See Tulloch, Lectures on M. Renan's " Vie de Je'sus," p. 33. 



22 WHY FOUE GOSPELS? 

against all classes of men ; is tempted to make use of 
deception and yields ; and, in the belief in some com- 
ing world-revolution, hurries on his own violent death, 
and is buried in a grave from which M. Renan does not 
allow the stone to be rolled away. This is the basis of 
fact, according to Renan, on which the great romances 
of the Gospels were constructed. 

Naturally not a few readers have inquired how it 
happens that the brilliant Frenchman has a monopoly 
of that critical intuition which is absolutely necessary to 
cull the facts of the Gospels from the fable. Those in- 
clined to receive him as their teacher have gone farther 
and insisted on claiming a share of that intuition for 
themselves. The intuition of the equally brilliant author 
of Ecce Homo differs from that of the Frenchman and 
from that of everybody else. Even M. Renan's intuition 
changes from time to time ; and there is no one to decide 
where the rationalistic doctors all disagree. 

Men of sense begin to see clearly that this new prin- 
ciple once admitted would destroy all the foundations of 
History, no less surely than would the older principle 
of Strauss. As they read the grand story of the Gos- 
pels, they feel that the life, character, and mission of 
Jesus of Nazareth are " one in idea, in purpose, in ac- 
complishment, and result." They turn away from M. 
Renan's no-gospel as a repulsive thing, and the polished 
Frenchman's romance, after being a nine-days' wonder, 
is making haste to the upper shelves or the waste bas- 
ket. Not even with the aid of French vivacity and 
genius can such a baseless and sentimental production 
hold its own against the clear unity, the intense reality, 
and the divine spirituality of the Gospel narratives. 

Results. On the whole, Christianity has little reason 
to complain of the final results of these German and 
French ventures. The year in which Strauss published 



THE COMMON-SENSE CRITICS. 23 

his life of Jesus is as memorable in theology as 1848 in 
politics. Theologians of all classes saw that it called for 
a reconstruction of the whole subject of the origin and 
foundations of Christianity. If it formed the starting 
point of the new literature of unbelief, it likewise awak- 
ened Christian thought and directed it to the central 
facts of Gospel history, and above all to the Divine Per- 
son revealed there. The life of Jesus has thus called 
forth from Christian scholars the richest results of critical 
investigation and exposition of the place of the Gospels 
in literature and history, and has given the historical 
Christ a firmer hold on the intelligent faith of mankind 
than he has ever before had. In fine, both pantheism 
and positivism did their best in Strauss and Renan, and 
failed. 

The conflict that has since been waged is but the nec- 
essary disagreement of the inquiring in passing from the 
blind and worthless agreement of the ignorant to the 
priceless unanimity of the intelligent and enlightened. 
Jiut for the efforts of Strauss and his successors, the 
Church might still have known nothing of the common- 
sense, historic criticism, to which it already owes so much, 
and from which it may reasonably hope for so much 
more. 

SECTION IV. 
THE COMMON-SENSE CRITICS. 

The modern reaction from the irrational and rational- 
istic methods has given rise to a common-sense criticism, 
which promises to lead ultimately to a correct and full 
understanding of the Gospels. It asks men to look at the 
Gospels as they are, and to study them in the light of the 
times and forces that shaped them. It aims to do for 
the Gospels the work that the Baconian philosophy has 
done for the world of nature. 



24 WHY FOUR GOSPELS? 

Says Matthew Arnold : " Of the literature of France 
and Germany, as of the intellect of Europe in general, 
the main effort, for now many years, has been a critical 
effort ; the endeavor in all branches of knowledge, — 
theology, philosophy, history, art, science, — to see the 
object as in itself it really is." We accept this as cer- 
tainly the proper aim of all critical study of words from 
God, if not of the proper study of merely human pro- 
ductions, — to come to see them as they really are. The 
practical question in connection with the criticism of the 
Gospels is, How can this end be attained ? Through a 
long period of honest, earnest work the Christian Church 
has been approximating to the true method, and through 
it to the true answer. 

It is obvious, however, from what has already been 
presented, that the progress toward the goal has not been 
made in a right line. Human reason, when employed 
on these great divine subjects, has a most unreasonable 
way of taking to by-ways and cross-roads of investiga- 
tion, and of losing sight of the one main track. 

Along the line of Gospel study two things have been 
prominent : the divine records themselves ; and the ever- 
increasing mass of related facts, geographical, biographi- 
cal, and historical, drawn partly from those records and 
partly from independent sources. 

There are, therefore, three possible methods of proced- 
ure. The true method and the best results obviously 
require that both these sources of knowledge shall be 
taken into account. In the actual work of criticism, 
however, one class of critics has looked only to the records, 
and another only to the related facts ; and both, by adopt- 
ing wrong methods, have failed of securing the most val- 
uable results. The work of the former class has too 
often degenerated into a barren consideration of petty 
details or of the mere letter of the Scriptures, while that 



THE COMMON-SENSE CRITICS. 25 

of the latter has sunk into equally barren geographical, 
biographical, or historical speculation on subjects only 
remotely connected with the truths of the divine reve- 
lation. But it is a satisfaction to be assured, that even 
the departures from the right line of progress must ulti- 
mately assist in reaching the truth, by showing that the 
truth does not lie in the directions in which these depart- 
ures have been made, but somewhere midway between 
them. 

The history of Gospel study, up to the present time, 
may be said to have fairly demonstrated that the old 
commentary of petty detail, which sticks to isolated facts 
and to words and letters, to the neglect of the more 
important things of the Scriptures, will not greatly 
help men to see the productions of the Evangelists as 
they really are. It ignores the divine system and the 
infinitely varied relations that must exist wherever 
God's thought finds expression. It is a fatal mistake 
to fix the attention upon verses and phrases, upon names 
and dates, upon words and syllables, and to lose sight 
of that spirit which is infinitely above the mere letter, 
and of that truth of the entire Gospels which is infin- 
itely grander than the mere sum of the separate parts. 
In a whole library of commentaries constructed after this 
microscopic method, one can scarcely find a trace of the 
truest, highest glories of the writings of the Evangelists. 

In like manner it has been shown very clearly that 
the commentary which devotes itself to things external 
and incidental to the Gospels, and which so generally 
sinks into petty biographical, historical, or geographical 
criticism, can give even less aid toward understanding 
the productions of the Evangelists as they really are. It 
is doubtless important, in the examination of literary 
works, to consider the personality, the circumstances, the 
country and the career of the author. But when this 



26 WHY FOUR GOSPELS? 

degenerates into petty search after curious facts, often 
more useless than curious, it fails to lay open the secret 
of an author's life, and does little toward making his pro- 
ductions intelligible. Of what imaginable help is it, in 
understanding the mighty work of a Newton in the 
world, to know that he was "small enough, when he 
was born, to be put into a quart mug, and that if he had 
any animal taste, it was for apples of the red-streak 
sort ? " Of what possible service inunderstanding the 
sublime tragedies of JEschylus, is the much-paraded 
story, that the old man had his bald head broken by an 
eagle, which, high in air, mistook it for a stone, and 
dropped a tortoise on it to crack for a meal ? And yet 
how much of so-called gospel illustration deals with facts 
and fables as petty and worthless as these ! Thoughtful 
men are beginning to see that valuable lives may be 
worse than wasted by scholars who give themselves up 
to such work in connection with the history of the Evan- 
gelists. A whole library of such materials may fail to 
give any one the least insight into the real spirit of Mat- 
thew, Mark, Luke, and John, or the slightest glimpse of 
the true spiritual power of their productions. 

Results. The final result of these erroneous methods 
has been to turn the attention toward the true method, 
which may be characterized as that of genuine textual 
and historical criticism. It gives due attention both to 
the sacred records, in their minute details and in their 
grand unities, and to the important related facts. 

The fundamental law of this criticism requires, on the 
one hand, that he who wishes to understand the Gospels 
shall devote the proper study and accord due weight, to 
the agents and forces, human and divine, individual and 
national, which wrought in producing them, and to the 
ideas, customs, circumstances, relations, and aims which 
gave them final shape. Without proper regard to this 



THE COMMON-SENSE CRITICS. 27 

canon no right understanding of the Gospels in their 
completeness and unity is possible. The same law re- 
quires, on the other hand, that he who wishes to under- 
stand the Gospels as they really are shall devote no less 
earnest study to the sacred records themselves, — seeking 
in the light of all the related facts to grasp them in de- 
tail and in completeness, in part and in whole ; making 
use of the previously sought out secret of the author's 
age and life and genius, and of the revelation of the di- 
vine purpose, to reach the still higher secret of the glad 
tidings to all men. 

In the " Life, Times, and Travels of St. Paul," Cony- 
heare and Howson have applied this method with nota- 
ble success in dealing with a portion of the Acts of the 
Apostles and with the Pauline Epistles. Their work has 
thrown new and marvelous light upon apostolic times in 
general, and especially upon the career of the Apostle to 
the Gentiles. 

A proper application of the same method to the Gos- 
pels cannot fail to bring out something of the divine sys- 
tem, which most certainly inheres in the mass of Gospel 
facts of which Jesus of Nazareth is the central figure. 
The light which it must cast upon the productions of the 
Evangelists cannot fail to invest them with a new, fresh, 
yet common-sense and historic, interest. The Gospels 
themselves will at the same time be permitted to present 
their own best vindication against both rationalism and 
irrationalism ; and will furnish, in their respective aims 
and plans, and in their complete unity and harmony, a 
new and most convincing argument in favor of the 
Christianity based upon them. 

Topics. In the course of such a work the questions : 
Why are there four Gospels ? and, Wherein and why do 
they differ ? will, it is trusted, be satisfactorily answered ; 
or, at least, the direction along which the true answer 
can alone be found be clearly pointed out. 



28 WHY FOUR GOSPELS ? 

It will appear incidentally how false is the common 
notion that the divine work for the redemption of the 
world might have been accomplished just as well by one 
Gospel, or any other number than four, — so false, in- 
deed, that history would have to be transformed, the 
world revolutionized, and the nature of the races radi- 
cally changed, before the divine purpose could have 
reached its fulfillment through one or three or five or any 
other number than the divinely chosen four. 

The method. The proposed application of this com- 
mon-sense method will require : — 

First, the consideration of such introductory topics as 
the preparation of the world for the advent of the Mes- 
siah ; the advent and career of the Messiah ; and the 
actual origin of the four written Gospels. 

Secondly, the special consideration of each of the four 
Gospels, in its origin, design, and authorship, and in its 
adaptation in structure and matter to those for whom it 
was originally prepared. 



PAET I. 



THE PURPOSE OF GOD AND THE GOSPEL. 

" Careless seems the Great Avenger ; history's pages but record 
One death-grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the Word ; 
Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne, — 
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown, 
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own." 

James Russell Lowell. 

" For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not 
God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that 
believe." 1 Corinthians i. 21. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE PREPARATION FOR THE ADVENT OF THE MESSIAH. 

Though man often works irrationally and without 
plan, God never does. In the introduction of Christian- 
ity into the world there was a divine plan whose work- 
ing out reached through all the ages until the complete 
embodiment of the one Gospel in the four forms in 
which it appears in the Bible. Into that plan the an- 
cient world, Jewish and Pagan, consciously or uncon- 
sciously entered. In general terms, it has been said 
that " Judaism prepared salvation for mankind, and 
heathenism prepared mankind for salvation." 1 This 
statement may perhaps be shown to be only a half-truth, 
— since it will be found that Judaism did a chief part 

1 Kurtz, Text Book of Ch. History, vol. i. p. 44. 



30 PREPARATION FOR MESSIAH. 

of the work of preparing mankind for salvation, — but 
a most important half-truth nevertheless. 

Two parts may be seen in this plan : a first, which in- 
cludes the preparation made for the Advent, or the com- 
ing of Messiah ; a second, which includes the coming and 
career of Messiah and the preaching and written embod- 
iment of his Gospel. 

The preparation for the advent of Jesus Christ in- 
volved the missions of Jew and Pagan. In the case of 
the former, the work of preparation was carried on by 
means of revelation ; in the case of the latter by means 
of free experience. So, in substance, writes Pressense. 1 
It will be seen, however, that revelation had much to do, 
through the Jewish dispersion, with the preparation of 
the heathen world for Messiah. 

SECTION I. 
THE PREPARATORY MISSION OF THE JEWS. 

"The salvation is of the Jews." 2 These are the 
words of Jesus Christ himself to the woman of Samaria 
by the well of Sychar. Salvation is the one necessity of 
the race. No religion, therefore, that has not salvation 
as its essence can meet the wants of the race. 

It was the mission of the Jew to receive directly from 
God, and, in due time, transmit to the whole human race 
the only religion of salvation, and therefore the only 
true world-religion. Everything connected with the 
history of the Jews had reference to the completion of 
this one religion for mankind. Each revelation and dis- 
pensation, all discipline and punishment, every promise 
and threatening, their constitution, laws, and worship, 

1 Religions before Christ, p. 191. 

2 John iv. 22. The definite article used in the original gives the mean- 
ing : The (promised and only) salvation comes from the Jews. 



MISSION OF THE JEWS. 31 

every political, civil, and religious institution (so far as 
they were legitimate and proper), tended toward this 
one goal. 1 In the light of providential developments and 
later revelations, the divine plan as connected with the 
Jews may readily be traced, in its great outlines, from 
the calling of Abraham to the advent of Christ. 

The history of the chosen people has been providen- 
tially divided into two periods, the first of which ended 
with the captivity and the extinction of national inde- 
pendence, and the second, with the Advent. The first 
was, in general terms, a period of national unity and 
integrity, and of complete separation from the outside 
world. The second was a period of national disintegra- 
tion, of dispersion throughout the whole world, and of 
most varied union with mankind. 

To the careless glance there seems a contradiction in 
the parts of this divine plan. Why first the policy of 
complete isolation, and then an abrupt change to the op- 
posite ? As always elsewhere, so here, to a closer inspec- 
tion, the unity and consistency of the divine purpose 
clearly appear. The one purpose was twofold. The 
work of the period of isolation may be characterized as 
the revelation of the world-religion to the chosen people 
and the establishment of its sway over them. The 
work of the period of dispersion may be characterized as 
missionary in its nature, and as intended to impress the 
world-religion, in the form in which it had been revealed 
to the chosen people, upon the pagan races, in order to 
prepare them for the reception of the Divine Saviour 
with his salvation. 

I. The Jewish Isolation. 

Two great epochs are to be distinguished in the his- 
tory of Judaism during the period of isolation. In the 

1 Kurtz, Text Book of Ch. History, vol. i. p. 43. 



.32 PREPARATION FOR MESSIAH. 

first, the Jewish system was definitely constituted, re- 
ceiving its institutions from God, in the Covenant, 
through Abraham, and in the Law, through Moses. In 
the second, Israel was established in the land of Canaan, 
and the power of the new religion developed by the 
growth and perfection of its institutions and by a cycle 
of sublime revelations throwing vivid light upon the 
future. The first epoch was characterized by the pre- 
dominance of the legal element, the second, by that of 
the prophetic, — though neither element was ever alto- 
gether absent. The Covenant, the Law, and the Proph- 
ets thus represent the three aspects of the Jewish relig- 
ion during the age of isolation. 

The Covenant. The first stage of the divine work 
of salvation began when Abraham of Ur of the Chal- 
dees was called to be the head of a privileged family, 
and the progenitor of a race privileged for the world's 
sake. 

In the covenant which Jehovah made with Abraham 
are found a command, a promise, and a seal. 

" Get thee out of th}r country, and from thy kin- 
dred." * "I am the Almighty God ; walk before me 
and be thou perfect." 2 So ran the command. It called 
to a separation from paganism with its many gods and 
to a dedication to the one Almighty God. Its monothe- 
ism and its separation foreshadowed the more complete 
revelation and law which were to come by Moses. 

" And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will 
bless thee, and make thy name great ; and thou shalt be a 
blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse 
him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the families 
of the earth be blessed." 3 So read the promise. While 
assuring to Abraham and his descendants special bless- 
ing and grace, whereby they should be exalted and the 

1 Genesis xii. 1. 2 Genesis xvii. 1. 8 Genesis xii. 2, 3. 



MISSION OF THE JEWS. 33 

true religion preserved, it reached out to the whole hu- 
man race and was made in its interests, and so foreshad- 
owed the world-religion to be brought in by Christ. It 
involved the germ of all the subsequent prophecies of 
Messiah and all the later developments of God's plan for 
the salvation of the world. 

" This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between 
me and thee, and thy seed after thee ; every man child 
among you shall be circumcised." 2 Such was the seal. 
It was a " fit symbol of that removal of the old man and 
renewal of nature which qualified Abraham to be the 
parent of a holy seed." 2 

Thus were furnished the germs of the world-religion. 

The Mosaic System. The holy seed which was 
called and created 3 in Abraham grew into a nation 
and in due time was called out of Egypt to receive, 
by the hand of Moses, a fuller revelation of God's law 
and grace. This was the second stage of the divine 
work. 

The era of the Law began with the experience in the 
wilderness, on the way from Egypt to the promised land. 
It was then that the descendants of Abraham received 
those divine revelations which shaped their whole na- 
tional life. They were, at the foundation, revelations of 
law, and expressed what it was God's will that the chosen 
people should do and become ; but they were likewise 
revelations of grace, unfolding the method by which the 
people might, in conduct and character, attain to the ful- 
fillment of the divine will. 

The legal element of the divine revelation through 
Moses embraced the Jewish civil code and the moral law. 
The chosen people, already united by common suffering 

1 Genesis xvii. 10. 

2 Murphy, Commentary on Genesis, xvii. 9-14. 
8 Hebrews xi. 12. 

3 



34 PREPARATION FOR MESSIAH. 

and blessing, were thoroughly organized as a nation, and 
their union confirmed and consolidated at Sinai, by the 
establishment of a civil code. This code — the similar- 
ity of which to our own has been remarked by the emi- 
nent French jurist, De Tocqueville — was subordinate to 
higher than civil ends. 1 The moral law, summed up in 
the Decalogue, addressed to the understanding, sanc- 
tioned by suitable authority, and enforced by adequate 
penalties, was designed to impress upon the people God's 
moral attributes. It was " the clearest expression of the 
holy will of God before the advent of Christ. It set 
forth the ideal of righteousness, and was thus fitted most 
effectually to awaken a sense of man's great departure 
from it, and to give the knowledge of sin and guilt 
(Rom. iii. 20). It acted as a school-master to lead men 
to Christ that they might be justified by faith (Gal. iii. 
24)." 2 

The gracious element in the Mosaic system, as distin- 
guished from the legal element, was embodied in concrete 
and sensible form in the ceremonial law. This was nec- 
essary, for abstract statement was not enough. God's 
purpose both of law and grace needed to be put into such 
a form that it could be impressed upon the mind through 
the senses, — needed to be put in the form of a perpetual 
object lesson. This was accomplished by the ritual of 
the Mosaic religion. That religion was embodied in the 
four institutions which were at the basis of all the an- 
cient religions : sacrifice ; the priesthood ; the sanctuary, 
or sacred place of adoration ; and religious festivals, or 
periods consecrated to adoration. These institutions 
were purified from all heathen elements and given their 
full significance. 

It was necessary that the grace element should be 

1 See Wines, Commentaries on the Laws of the Ancient Hebrews. 

2 Schaff, History of the Apostolic Church, p. 39. 



MISSION OF THE JEWS. 35 

added and placed over against the law, for mere law was 
not enough to save men. There was therefore attached 
to the Mosaic rites " both a symbolical and typical value, 
representing important truths having a present applica- 
tion, and being at the same time the shadow of good 
things to come." 1 They spoke at once of present duty 
and future blessing. The moral law brought despair and 
death ; the sacrifices brought in the idea of reparation, 
of atonement, by death for death, and typified the great 
coming atonement. The moral law made man feel his 
unfitness to approach Jehovah ; the priest, set apart and 
purified, appeared between the sinner and an offended 
God, symbolizing the separation while typifying the great 
High Priest by whom the race should be brought nigh to 
God. There was needed a permanent centre for this sac- 
rificial system, a sanctuary ; this was found at first in the 
tabernacle (afterward in the temple), which perpetually 
symbolized the salvation of God, and typified the better 
things to come. The people must be brought into close 
and frequent contact with this great centre that they 
may effectually learn the lessons of their religious sys- 
tem ; the sacred festivals, with the daily sacrifices and 
sabbatic ordinances, were for this end. 

The Mosaic ritual and the whole system of Judaism, 
given in the wilderness, were developed and perfected in 
the land of promise. Judaea was as admirably situated 
in that age, for maintaining the isolation of the Israelites 
from all the world, as it proved to be, in a later age and 
in altered circumstances, for bringing them into closest 
connection and union with all the world. It was at the 
common centre of the three grand divisions of the old 
world, and surrounded by the great nations of ancient 
culture ; but it was separated from them by deserts on 
the south and east, by sea on the west, and by mountains 

1 Pressense, The Religions before Christ, p. 207. 



36 PREPARATION FOR MESSIAH. 

on the north. 1 The Mosaic legislation reared a still more 
impassable barrier than deserts and seas and mountains, 
between God's people and the pagan world. 

What with the land and the legislation and the de- 
struction of the Canaanites, freedom for the full develop- 
ment of Judaism, without disturbing influences from the 
heathen at home or abroad, was secured. When the 
monarchy reached the height of its glory, under David 
and Solomon, the ritual reached its most complete and 
magnificent embodiment in the temple then erected and 
made the centre of the Jewish system. 

Development of Prophecy. The third stage in the 
divine work had already been entered upon. While the 
law was advancing toward its most perfect unfolding, 
the element of prophecy began to assume increasing prom- 
inence. 

The Pentateuch opens with the promise that the seed 
of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. That 
promise had always kept its place in the unfolding of 
Judaism. To Abraham it was made more definite ; 
from his seed was to come the mysterious benefactor who 
was to restore the whole human race. Thus the promise 
of the world-religion, the theme and burden of prophecy, 
was given. Each new phase of Jewish history enriched 
it. 

In the time of Samuel, some eleven centuries before 
Christ, prophecy received an organized form in a perma- 
nent prophetical office and order, and was thus prepared 
to take its place as a leading element in the Jewish re- 
ligious development. It was the vocation of the prophet 
to keep alive the fundamental truth of the covenant, to 
keep before the minds of the people their high vocation, 
to call them back from idolatry, and to inspire them with 
a living faith in their glorious destiny. Borrowing his 

1 Schaff, History of the Christian Church, p. 36. 



MISSION OF THE JEWS. 37 

symbols from the times in which he lived, and thus secur- 
ing an ever-present freshness, the prophet of the Lord 
pointed, with a clearness increasing to the last, to the 
Messiah in whom all the promises should be realized to 
Israel and to the world. 

Says Dr. William H. Green, in an essay on " The Mat- 
ter of Prophecy " : " The prophetic exhibition of Christ 
is accomplished by successive teachings, each suited to its 
own age and its own special design, but all combining to 
produce the general effect. The prophets may thus be 
likened to a grand orchestra. Each musician plays a 
part adapted to his own particular instrument, which, 
taken by itself, is designed to give a particular effect to 
the piece ; and yet they are attuned in such precise har- 
mony, and so contrived with reference to the various pos- 
sibilities of the melody, that, combined upon the oratorio 
of the Messiah, they bring out, as could in no other way 
be done, the full power of that magnificent production. 
The necessities of one period call for the presentation of 
the coming Saviour and his work under one point of 
view ; those of other periods lead to the contemplation 
of them from different sides. And the necessities of the 
people, as they arise in the progress of their history, are 
themselves accommodated to the grand end to be accom- 
plished, being of such a variety and character, that the 
instructions which they demand may complete the total 
of the revelations to be made respecting Messiah before 
his advent." * 

When the prophetic era closed, the idea of the coming 
Messiah, to whom the whole ritual pointed and in whom 
all prophecy centred, had been made as prominent in the 
Jewish mind as was the law when it had become en- 
shrined in the temple of Solomon at the close of the legal 
period. Every eye was turned toward the coming Christ. 

1 Princeton Review, The Matter of Prophecy, October, 1862. 



38 PREPARATION FOR MESSIAH. 

But before this great work had been fully accomplished 
and the voices of the prophets hushed, the chosen peo- 
ple had passed from the period of isolation from all the 
world to the period of dispersion through all the world. 

II. The Jewish Dispersion, 

Certain events in the progress of the prophetic period, 
and especially toward its close, prepared for the transi- 
tion from the early condition of national unity and iso- 
lation to the later one of disintegration and dispersion. 
The extraordinary material prosperity of the Jewish 
monarchy began the work of breaking down the barriers 
between the chosen people and the world ; the judgments 
of God completed it. In the prosperity and the judg- 
ments originated the system of means divinely employed 
for disseminating the truths of the world-religion. 

Prosperity and judgments. In pushing the bounds 
of his kingdom out to the limits of the other great na- 
tions of the earth, King David made the Israelites one 
of the most prominent nations of that age, the rival in 
power and splendor of Egypt and Assyria, and a fit 
object for their fear and jealousy. 

Still later, the necessity for gold and silver and other 
building materials, arising from the construction of the 
temple of Solomon and the various works in which that 
monarch attempted to rival the other great empires, gave 
an impulse to a world-wide commerce and intercourse. 
The sea on the west ceased to be a barrier, and became 
instead a highway to the nations, even as far west as 
Tarshish or Spain. The ports of Ezion-geber and Elath, 
at the head of the Akabah, opened the way for an active 
trade, both to the south and east, with the nations along 
the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. The deserts on the 
east, north and south, no longer shut them out from the 
older nations of the world from which the Jewish race 



MISSION OF THE JEWS. 39 

originally sprung. By building Tadmor, or Palmyra, 
on an oasis midway between Damascus and the Eu- 
phrates, Solomon gained control of the immense trade of 
Egypt and Asia Minor with the east by caravan, and 
thus made the wealth of both the east and the west 
tributary to the prosperity of his own realm. A highway 
for trade was opened into Egypt, and Solomon allied 
himself to Pharaoh by marrying his daughter. The way 
was thus prepared for the Jews, who were by nature a 
race of merchants, to become the merchants of the 
world. 

The story of the very general departure of the Jewish 
race from the true God and of their lapse into idolatry, 
which resulted from their connection with the heathen 
nations, is too familiar to need rehearsal. In this defec- 
tion Solomon himself — who, with all his wisdom, was 
unable to withstand the seductive influences of prosperity 
— took the lead, by the introduction and establishment of 
idolatry in the various forms in which it was practiced 
by his heathen wives. He had taken these wives in dis- 
obedience to God's plain command, thereby showing his 
own early departure from the true religion. 

The story of the divine judgments which followed the 
apostasy of the chosen people is equally familiar. The 
divine wrath did not delay, but fell even upon Solomon. 
At his death the vast empire of David had already shrunk 
to its original narrow limits, and the Lord declared that 
even what remained should be rent from his successors. 
Jeroboam, when he had drawn off the ten tribes in re- 
volt, established the idolatrous worship as the religion 
of the State, and from that time Israel, or the ten tribes, 
made haste to destruction, in spite of the many warnings 
and judgments of God. The final blow fell when Shal- 
manezer, king of Assyria, took Samaria, razed it, de- 
stroyed the kingdom of Israel, and carried the captives 



40 PREPARATION FOR MESSIAH. 

away to Halah and Habor (Chebar). Juclali followed 
in the idolatry of Israel, and a little more than a cent- 
ury later its people were carried away captive to Baby- 
lon, save a remnant that tied into Egypt. 

The prophetic activity reached its height during the 
decline and captivity. It was then that the sins against 
the covenant needed most to be rebuked. Early in that 
period appeared Elijah and Elisha, who wrought more 
miracles than any prophet since the days of Moses and 
Joshua. Just before the overthrow of Israel, Isaiah and 
Micah flourished in Judah, contemporary with Hosea 
and Amos in Israel. The two former survived that 
overthrow, and were succeeded byNahumand Zephaniah, 
through whom, in the reign of Hezekiah and Josiah, a 
partial and temporary reformation was wrought in Ju- 
dah. 

It is obvious, moreover, that in the captivity the hopes 
of the Messiah needed to be kept most clearly before the 
people. Still more earnestly, therefore, did the prophets 
then ply their vocation among the captives of Judah, 
directing them in working God's purposes, — Jeremiah 
with the remnant in Egypt ; Ezekiel among those by 
the river of Chebar ; Daniel at the court of the great 
eastern monarch ; Ezra and Xehemiah in leading back 
the band that rebuilt Jerusalem and the temple. Hag- 
gai, Zechariah, and Malachi, after the restoration, con- 
cluded the communications of God, in that age, touching 
the coming of Messiah and the great events of the future, 
using the deliverance from captivity as the type of Mes- 
siah's work. With them the roll of the prophets ended, 
and the voice of prophecy ceased till the near approach 
of the Advent. 

Dissemination of the "World-religion. The work of 
transmitting the true religion from the narrow limits 
of the Jewish race, where it had been prepared, to the 



MISSION OF THE JEWS. 41 

widest limits of the human race, for which it had been 
prepared, had already begun. 

Providentially, in connection with the prosperity and 
the judgments, there was somehow perfected the most 
complete system of means possible for the dissemination 
of the truth. It may now be seen that everything 
wrought together marvelously in God's plan, and for 
the accomplishment of his ends. It is manifest from his- 
tory that the captivity and dispersion made the profound- 
est moral impression upon both Jew and Gentile, and 
that the restoration of the Jews resulted in the most 
constant and intimate intercourse of Jerusalem with all 
the world. 

The captivity produced a revolution in the sentiments 
of both Jews and Gentiles respecting the true Judaism. 

It cured the Jews of their idolatry, bound them as 
never before to their sacred records, and urged them on 
to make proselytes of all the world. Says Dr. Schaff : 
" As to religion, the Jews, especially after the Baby- 
lonish captivity, adhered most tenaciously to the letter of 
the law, and to their traditions and ceremonies, but 
without knowing the spirit and power of the Script- 
ures." x This is the universal testimony on the sub- 
ject. Neander has shown how the Pharisees, or strict 
Jews, labored to make proselytes. The wavering au- 
thority of the old national religions, the unsatisfied relig- 
ious necessities of so many, came in to aid them. Hence, 
the inclination to Judaism, particularly in the large capi- 
tal cities, became very marked. 2 

The character of the Jew, as elevated by the judg- 
ments of the captivity, turned the favorable attention of 
the heathen world to the true religion. The Jew was 
the cultured religious man of that age. With Egypt he 

1 Schaff, History of the Christian Church, p. 37. 

2 Xeander, Church History, vol. i. p. 67. 



42 PREPARATION FOR MESSIAH. 

had shared the early knowledge of the arts. In the exo- 
dus, before the origin of Greek letters, his written lan- 
guage exhibited the fruits of his sojourn in the land of 
the Nile. He belonged to that Semitic race which has 
given the world, besides so many precious words of sci- 
ence and art, the three great and only systems of The- 
ism. 

It is obvious, too, that the religion of the Jew, unlike 
that of the heathen, was bound to a law of moral purity. 
Men might complain that they could not see the God of 
the Jew ; but they could not help feeling the morality 
of his law. As a slave in heathen households moulding 
the young, as a steward overseeing his master's business, 
as a counselor of kings directing the destinies of nations, 
the true Israelite was everywhere doing in his measure, 
by the purity and diligence of his life, the work which 
Daniel the prophet did, in the highest positions, by his 
personal influence in winning men to his own pure and 
lofty faith. 

The Jew, moreover, was then as ever the thrifty man of 
the world. Born with a tendency to acquisition, made by 
his religion a man to be trusted, he was prepared by his 
tact and thrift and enterprise to be the banker, merchant, 
and executive man of business, and so to cooperate in the 
work for heathendom which God was carrying forward 
both by natural and supernatural agencies. Xerxes, who 
attempted the conquest of Greece, had a Jewish cup- 
bearer, a Jewish consort, and a Jewish prime minister. 

But the most striking impressions made upon the na- 
tions in favor of the true religion were due to the special 
manifestations of divine power. 

These manifestations were very marked during the ex- 
ile. They were needed both to correct and comfort the 
people of God, and also to impress the character of Je- 
hovah, as the only true God, upon the greatest of the 



MISSION OF THE JEWS. 43 

Oriental Empires. In all this miraculous work, the 
prophets were the representatives of God. Foremost 
among them all was Daniel, the most faultless character 
of the old dispensation, and one of the grandest of all the 
prophets. The book which bears his name is one con- 
tinued record of miracles of power and foresight, wrought 
at the very centre of oriental magnificence, and exerting 
an influence on the future destiny of the nations that 
witnessed them, perhaps greater than those wrought in 
Egypt and at Sinai. Kings heard his prophecies, and 
knew that God spoke by him. They witnessed his mi- 
raculous works and his striking deliverances, and ac- 
knowledged the God of the Jews to be " the God of 
gods." By royal decrees they did what was in their 
power to make their own feeling the universal feeling of 
western Asia. Influenced by the prophet, Cyrus issued 
the decree for the rebuilding of the temple and provided 
the requisite means for the work. The reestablishment 
at Jerusalem of a grand religious centre, from which 
light was to go out into all the world while men were 
waiting for the advent of Messiah, was therefore one of 
the most impressive proofs of the wonderful revolution 
wrought by the exile, in Oriental heathendom. 

The New Religious Centre. Never was there a more 
complete and marvelous provision of God than that for 
making the most of this moral impression, upon Jew 
and Gentile, in giving the true religion the widest possi- 
ble influence. The restored city and temple, the com- 
pleted canon of the Scriptures, and the synagogue system 
constitute the chief features of that provision. 

Jerusalem was restored to be henceforth not a national 
centre, as under David and Solomon, but simply a relig- 
ious metropolis to the whole dispersed nation, from which 
should go forth the spiritual influences which should fash- 
ion the future of mankind. 



44 PREPARATION FOR MESSIAH. 

Hence the edict of Cyrus, which originated in the di- 
vine counsels, was a permission and not a command. The 
long period of war and desolation had changed the aspect 
of Judaea. It had ceased to be in the old sense " a land 
flowing with milk and honey." It could never again be 
the great natural centre of wealth it had once been, for 
the line of trade had been changed, and its history was 
to be one of dependence. Henceforward it must be 
sought as a home chiefly for the memories of what it had 
been, or for the hopes of what it should again become 
through the Messiah. 

No decree of earthly king could have brought back 
more than a small portion of the descendants of Abra- 
ham. The great mass had become engaged in commerce, 
banking, and retail traffic, and would not make the Holy 
City their place of residence. " The emigrants doubt- 
less consisted chiefly of the pious and the poor ; and as 
the latter proved docile to their teachers, a totally new 
spirit reigned in the restored nation." 1 Jerusalem thus 
became comparatively pure, as a religious centre, and 
was fitted to elevate the Jews of the dispersion who came 
up from year to year to the great festivals. 

While the Holy City and the temple were thus being 
restored, the divine religion, which gave them their sig- 
nificance and their sacredness, was receiving its final and 
unalterable written form. 

One step toward securing this result was taken in the 
gathering up of the sacred writings and the completion 
of the Old Testament canon, by Ezra, the prophet and 
scribe. From that time forward nothing was to be added 
to the word of God until Christ should come, and the 
Jews guarded it with jealous care against all attempted 
additions whatsoever. 

Another step was taken when the Hebrew ceased to 

1 See Kitto, Cyclopaedia, article " Captivities." 



MISSION OF THE JEWS. 45 

be a living language. Living languages change ; old 
words die or receive new meanings ; new words are con- 
stantly produced. With a living language, in constant 
contact with new phases of Oriental and Greek thought, 
the Jews might have greatly corrupted the sacred rec- 
ords. But in the violent disruption and tbe foreign in- 
tercourse, the Hebrew became a dead tongue, and Juda- 
ism, in its divinely revealed form, thus became fixed 
and incapable, through the centuries preceding the ad- 
vent of Messiah, of any extensive corruption. From the 
day of the restoration the true religion spoke out from 
that spiritual centre of the world with no uncertain 
voice. 

The establishment and development of the s3 T nagogue 
system furnished the connecting link between the tem- 
ple with its divine religion, and the Jew of the disper- 
sion, and the heathen world wherever the Jew was to be 
found. 

The synagogue probably originated during the captiv- 
ity. At all events, its great development took place then. 
"When the temple had been destroyed, the Jews natu- 
rally established the synagogue to take its place in keep- 
ing up their religion. The rule was, that " a synagogue 
was to be erected in every place where there were ten 
Batelnim, that is, ten persons of full age and free condi- 
tion always at leisure to attend the service of it." 1 The 
services to be performed in these synagogue assemblies 
were prayers, reading the Scriptures, and expounding 
them. Morning and evening the Law was read on three 
days in the week, and then on the Sabbath it was re- 
read. Each year the five books of Moses were read 
through and repeated. Besides, each day had its reading 
of the Prophets, and of certain passages of the Law 
called the Shema. The greatest familiarity with the let- 
4 See Prideaux, Old and New Testament Connected, vol. i. pp. 298, 299. 



46 PREPARATION FOR MESSIAH. 

ter of the Scriptures was thus secured wherever the wan- 
derings of the Jews carried the synagogue system. 

After the restoration of the temple, the cessation of 
prophecy turned the attention of the religious leaders at 
that great centre with tenfold eagerness to the study of 
the Scriptures, especially of the prophecies concerning 
the Messiah. The Jews of the dispersion, who went up 
annually in immense numbers to Jerusalem to the great 
religious festivals, carried back from the temple to the 
synagogues, in all parts of the pagan world, the latest 
developments of this study. The extent of this inter- 
course may be imagined from the statement of Josephns, 
that, when Jerusalem was besieged by the Romans under 
Titus, three millions of Jews, who had come up to the 
Passover, were shut in by the besiegers. 

By this vast telegraphic system the latest thought at 
Jerusalem was speedily made the property of all the 
Jews, and through them was borne to the doors of the 
entire pagan world. As the time of the Advent drew 
nigh, the expectation of a coming Messiah, deepened and 
directed to the times designated in prophecy, had been 
awakened in all lands. All men were looking for a great 
Deliverer to come out of Judaea. 

The old religion in its Jewish form had done its part 
of the preparatory work for the Christ, in accordance 
with the divine plan. 

SECTION n. 

THE PREPARATORY MISSION OF THE GENTILES. 

A view of the preparation for the Messiah would be 
incomplete if confined to the Jews alone. Salvation has 
been seen to have come forth from Judaea, but to be 
adapted to the necessities of the world. Three great his- 
toric races, the Oriental, the Greek, and the Roman, sue- 



MISSION OF THE GENTILES. 47 

cessively entered, along with the Jew, into the work of 
preparing the world for the advent of Messiah and the 
spread of his divine salvation. 

This was in accordance with the prophecies of Daniel, 
contained in the second and seventh chapters of his book. 
These great empires were to precede and prepare the 
way for the mightier kingdom of Messiah which the God 
of heaven should set up, and which should be an ever- 
lasting kingdom. Each will be found to have accom- 
plished a twofold preparatory work. 

I. TJie Mission of the Oriental Races. 

The Oriental empires which entered into this work 
were the Babylonian, represented by the head of gold in 
the great image of prophec} r , and the less magnificent 
Medo-Persian, represented by the arms and breast of 
silver. In the later prophecy, of the four beasts, the 
former is symbolized by the first beast, which was like a 
lion, and had eagle's wings ; since it was a lion in 
strength and an eagle in swiftness : the latter is symbol- 
ized by the second beast, which was like a bear ; since, in 
the desire for conquest, it was all-voracious like the bear. 

The Oriental Problem. These great Oriental races 
represented material riches, power, and grandeur. It 
was a subordinate part of their mission to prove the in- 
sufficiency of the greatest wealth, luxury, and splendor 
to satisfy and save man. It was the problem on which 
Solomon wrought, and whose solution he gives in Eccle- 
siastes when he brings back from his varied experience 
the conclusion : " Fear God and keep his commandments, 
for this is the whole of man," — the same problem, only 
on a vastly grander scale. The nations of the Orient 
came from its attempted solution Avretched and perishing. 
But the more important part of their mission was to fur- 
nish the agencies and theatre for the Jewish dispersion, 



48 PREPARATION FOR MESSIAH. 

and for the early dissemination of the germs of the 
world- religion. For this they were eminently fitted. 
The Jew was their proper representative, belonging to 
their own race. He had come forth from the valley of 
the Euphrates, in Abraham the Chaldee. The captivity 
was but a return to the primitive home. Who was so 
entitled as the Jew to be called the representative Ori- 
ental ? 

The Oriental races could most easily come into sym- 
pathy with Judaism, and could most readily <. furnish the 
conditions requisite for the fuller development of the 
germs of the true religion. In the Oriental mind, 
therefore, the Jew was to place the grand truths of his 
religion first, and thus to open the way to reach, at a 
later date, the Greek and Roman. By their self-will and 
brute force the Oriental races were meantime to chastise 
the Jewish race and cure it of its idolatry. 

II. The Mission of the Greeks. 

The eastern empires fell successively under the sen- 
tence which the handwriting on the wall passed upon 
Belshazzar, and which history repeats against every des- 
potism to the end of time : " Thou art weighed in the 
balance and found wanting," — wanting in fulfilling the 
true ends of states and governments, in securing the 
welfare of mankind and their union in the bonds of social 
life. 1 

In the later period of its history, when in the height 
of power under Xerxes, the Medo-Persian empire came 
into direct and open conflict with the West as repre- 
sented by Greece, the nation which was divinely ap- 
pointed to work out another problem, — whether man's 
free energy in poetry and art, in learning and philoso- 
phy, could perfect his social state, and thus accomplish 
i See Philip Smith, History of the World, vol. i. p. 242. 



MISSION OF THE GENTILES. 49 

that in which the East with its despotic power and wealth 
and magnificence had failed. 

The Greek empire under Alexander was the third 
kingdom which was to rule over all the earth. Its 
strength is represented by the brass of the image of the 
vision, in Daniel, and the rapidity of its conquests and 
the insatiableness of its ambition, by the third beast, the 
leopard, with its four wings and four heads. 1 

The Greek Problem. In its career the Greek race 
tested the insufficiency of the human reason with the 
highest human culture to satisfy and save man ; while 
in the conquests of Alexander it gave the world the high- 
est human civilization of the ancient ages, and the most 
perfect of languages in which to embody the true re- 
ligion. These are the main points of interest in the mis- 
sion of the Greek. In fact, Greek wisdom exhausted its 
free energies upon the same great problem which despotic 
Oriental power and magnificence had failed to solve. 

For a millennium the Greek race directed its varied 
powers and consummate genius in vain to the work of 
perfecting humanity. It achieved the greatest results in 
thought ever permitted to unaided human effort. Its 
civilization was one of the grandest the world has ever 
seen, — grand in its recognitions of humanity, in its po- 
etry and philosoph} r , in its science and art. But its cult- 
ure was purely intellectual, having no religious and 
moral ground of support capable of withstanding every 
shock and indestructible under all changes, and in the 
natural course of its development it could only degener- 
ate into false civilization and end in social corruption. 
It had no light and life from God. " There was yet no 
salt to preserve the life of humanity from decomposing, 
or to restore it back again when passing to decomposi- 
tion." 

1 Daniel ii. 32, 39 ; vii. 6. 



50 PREPARATION FOR MESSIAH. 

It is not too much to say that the Greek did every- 
thing toward the perfecting of man that could be done 
by a purely intellectual civilization. He demonstrated 
for all time what human reason, when situated most fa- 
vorably and tasked to the utmost, could accomplish for 
the salvation of a race with endowments superior to the 
other races. The later ages showed it to be very little. 

It became manifest that the glory of the Greek thought 
needed to be saved from its own corruption, — saved for 
the good of mankind. This could only be accomplished 
by extending its sway over the Oriental empires, and 
bringing it in contact with the saving influences of the 
world-religion which was being diffused everywhere by 
the scattered and exiled seed of Abraham. 

The "World Hellenized. When the Greek had voiced 
his wonderful thoughts of beauty and power in a lan- 
guage made for them and by them, and, therefore, the 
most perfect of the languages of the ancient ages, — the 
one most worthy to become the world-language, — and 
before, the blight and decay had fallen upon the race, 
Alexander of Macedon appeared to perform the needed 
office of Hellenizing the world. 

Of the work of Alexander, Howson says : " He took 
up the meshes of the net of civilization, which were lying 
in disorder on the edges of the Asiatic shore, and spread 
them over all the countries which he traversed in his 
wonderful campaigns. The East and the West were 
suddenly brought together. Separated tribes were united 
under a common government. New cities were built, as 
the centres of political life. New lines of communication 
were opened, as the channels of commercial activity. 
The new culture penetrated the mountain ranges of 
Pisidia and Lycaonia. The Tigris and Euphrates became 
Greek rivers. The language of Athens was heard among 
the Jewish colonies of Babylonia ; and a Grecian Baby- 



MISSION OF THE GENTILES. 51 

Ion was built by the conqueror in Egypt and called by 
his name." J 

When Alexander passed away leaving his vast plans 
unfinished, in his dying words, " to the strongest," he 
left his empire to the only men who could have carried 
out the work of making the world permanently Greek, 
— his own great generals whom he had trained to com- 
mand. When the empire was broken into four, the four 
were Greek, and Antioch and Alexandria rivaled Athens 
and Corinth as centres of Greek learning and art. 2 

From Alexander to the Advent Judaism and Hellenism 
were in world-wide contact. The man of prophecy was 
elevating the view of the man of reason, while the man 
of reason was widening the vision of the man of proph- 
ecy. Even where the Greek contemptuously held him- 
self aloof from the Jew, the Jewish religion was one of 
the most powerful influences in breaking down the old 
paganism. At the bar of reason, polytheism could not 
stand before the doctrine of one God. It was doomod 
from the hour when the Greek heard the first whispers 
concerning Jehovah. But the Greek did not everywhere 
hold himself aloof ; the two modes of thought came 
into direct contact ; the philosopher and the scribe met 
and became one. This occurred especially in the great 
centres. At Alexandria, the Septuagint, or Greek ver- 
sion of the Old Testament Scriptures, was made three 
centuries before the Advent, for the use of those employ- 
ing the Greek language, and the old revelation of the 
world-religion was thus scattered abroad for the Greek- 
speaking communities. At the same centre of culture 
Platonism and Judaism came together and were consoli- 

1 See Conybeare and Howson, Life, Times, and Travels of St. Paul, 
vol. i. p. 9. 

2 See Dollinger, The Gentiles and Jews in the Court of the Temple of 
Christ, vol. i. p. 341. 



52 PREPARATION FOR MESSIAH. 

dated in the Neo-Platonism which exerted such an in- 
fluence both before and after the Advent. 

In this twofold manner, by despair of reason and hope 
from prophecy, the Greek was borne onward to the 
completion of his part in the work of preparation for 
the coming of the Messiah, until mankind was found in 
possession of the world-religion with its predictions of 
the coming Redeemer, written in the perfected world- 
language, and made capable of greater expansiveness by 
the Greek forms of thought. 

The Greek mission was thus evidently essential in the 
preparation for Messiah. It forced the thinking men 
of that age to feel and confess the insufficiency of human 
reason, even in its most perfect development, for the de- 
liverance and perfection of mankind, and left them wait- 
ing and longing for one who could accomplish this work. 
It brought in a dawning sense of human brotherhood, 
and so helped to bring mankind together into the true 
unity. It aided men to cut loose from the hoary but 
unreasonable traditions of the past, and thus prepared 
them to receive the reasonable truth of God. It made 
ready and living the better and broader forms of thought 
and speech in which the Gospel with its grander truths 
— too grand and living to be put into the narrow and 
dead Hebrew — should be proclaimed to all the world. 

III. The Mission of the Romans, 

Rome was already the rising power of the West when 
Alexander gave the Greek civilization to the East. The 
Roman Empire was the fourth kingdom of the prophecy 
of Daniel. Its strength is represented by the iron of the 
great image, since it was to be " strong as iron ; " its 
terrible character, by the fourth beast, which had more 
than the power of the lion, more than the greed of 
the bear, and more than the swiftness and insatiable 



MISSION OF THE GENTILES. 53 

cruelty of the leopard, and to which no name could be 
given. 1 

The Roman Problem. The Roman was to try another 
solution of the problem on which the Oriental aud the 
Greek had failed. He was to try whether human power, 
taking the form of law, regulated by political principles 
of which a regard for law and justice was most conspic- 
uous, could perfect humanity by subordinating the indi- 
vidual to the state and making the state universal. 
" The power which was destined at length to raise a uni- 
versal empire on the ruins of the Eastern Monarchies, of 
the free states of Greece, and of the commercial oligarchy 
of Carthage, combined in itself the strongest points of 
the systems which it superseded," 2 — more than the ma- 
terial power of Oriental despotism ; much of the free- 
dom and intelligence and more than the social order of 
Greece ; a stronger and better aristocracy than that of 
Carthage. 

In the old Roman race, the will, or that part of man 
which pushes to action and enables him to control and 
mould nature and mankind, was the predominant ele- 
ment, associated with conscience or the natural sense of 
justice. Its herculean tasks and its universal empire 
furnish the highest expression of the human soul as the 
repository of the energy for shaping the world to law and 
order. The Roman, as the man of power, was to attempt 
the solution of the same problem of perfecting man in 
which the man of prophecy and the man of reason and 
taste had already failed, and in his failure was to com- 
plete the preparation for the coming of him who could 
solve the hitherto insoluble problem. 

The World Romanized. Before the time of the Ad- 
vent, Rome had demonstrated the powerlessness of hu- 

1 Daniel, ii. 33, 40 ; vii. 7, 19, 23. 

2 Smith, History of the World, vol. i. p. 131. 



54 PREPARATION FOR MESSIAH. 

man power to save mankind. It had done its best, but 
its best was little, — practically nothing. It needed the 
coming Christ that itself might be saved. Imperialism 
was as helpless as Orientalism and Hellenism. 

But the Roman performed a still more important part 
in preparing the world for the Messiah and the spread of 
the world-religion. It was Rome that cast up the high- 
ways along which the Jews plied their traffic and carried 
out to the ends of the earth the truth of God and the 
expectation of a coming Deliverer. It was Rome that 
made the influence of the divine religion free, rapid, and 
world wide. 

But more than all, Rome did for the whole world that 
law-work without which man never feels the greatness of 
his need of the Gospel. In carrying out his mission of 
power the Roman was, as already hinted, the representa- 
tive of natural justice in the world. It was doubtless 
some alleviation that the moulds into which the Roman 
power so remorselessly crushed men and nations were 
moulds of justice; yet in proportion as the world was a 
wicked world was the justice a terrible justice. Rome is 
aptly described by the prophet Daniel as the iron king- 
dom : " The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, foras- 
much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, 
and as iron that breaketh all these shall it break in 
pieces and bruise ; " and again, as the ferocious beast, 
" dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly, with 
great iron teeth, which devoured and brake in pieces, and 
stamped the residue with the feet of it." It was justice 
practically omnipotent and omnipresent, and so neither 
to be resisted nor escaped, — justice which never dreamed 
of mercy until the work of conquest and consolidation 
was done. It made men long for mercy, because it dem- 
onstrated to them that there was no hope for them in 
righteous law. 



MISSION OF THE GENTILES. 55 

The Total Result. So it came about that there was 
going up from all the world a wail for deliverance when 
the divine Deliverer appeared. 

Says Neander : " The three great historical nations had 
to contribute, each in its own peculiar way, to prepare 
the soil for the planting of Christianity, — the Jews on 
the side of the religious element ; the Greeks on the side 
of science and art ; the Romans, as masters of the world, 
on the side of the political element. When the fullness 
of the time was arrived, and Christ appeared, — when 
the goal of history had thus been reached, — then it was, 
that through him, and by the power of the spirit that pro- 
ceeded from him, — the might of Christianity, — all the 
threads, hitherto separated, of human development, were 
to be brought together and interwoven in one web." 1 

Regarding the subject from another point of view, hu- 
man nature had exhausted itself in the efforts of the 
Gentile world to solve the problem of man's elevation and 
salvation. The Oriental had given the freest rein to 
human desires, in the most favorable circumstances, and 
was perishing in magnificence and luxury. The Greek 
had given fullest scope to reason and taste, in circum- 
stances equally favorable, and was perishing in the very 
glory of his creations of thought and beauty. The Ro- 
man had made all the other powers subordinate to his ex- 
ecutive energy, and conscience, with its insatiate justice, 
was crushing him, and all the world with him, even by 
his universal empire. There were no other powers in 
human nature to bring to the task. The world over, on 
the great and all-absorbing question of man's salvation, 
the oracles of heathenism were dumb. 

It was only as Judaism had wrought with heathenism 
and for it, that hope remained for mankind. Along the 
line of the divine purpose of grace, Jew and Gentile had 

1 Church History, vol. i. p. 4. 



56 ADVENT OF MESSIAH. 

wrought together, for the most part unconsciously, for 
more than a thousand years, and the final results were 
now to be reached. 

When the Caesars were firmly established on the throne 
of the Empire, and the three phases of civilization, in 
Judaism, Hellenism, and Imperialism, had in measure 
blended and reached out over the world from Gibraltar 
and Britain to the shores of the Caspian, the Messianic 
expectancy and longing reached the highest intensity. It 
was the fullness of times. Could the world endure longer 
without the coming of Christ ? 



CHAPTER II. 

THE ADVENT AND THE WRITTEN GOSPELS. 

Jestjs Christ came in " the fullness of the time " 
(Gal. iv. 4), or at the hour appointed in the divine plan 
and prepared for by the divine providence, — the hour 
when everything was ready for his coming. He pro- 
claimed the great truths of the Gospel, was rejected by 
men, and finished his sacrificial work on the cross. In 
due time, under commission from him, his Apostles gave 
that Gospel to the world, first in their oral preaching, 
and then in the permanent records known as the four 
Gospels. 

SECTION I. 
THE ADVENT OF JESUS CHRIST. 

In the life of Jesus Christ is to be found the key to 
the history of the world. As the ages before were but 
the preparations for his advent, and replete with events 
and prophecies which turned all eyes toward that advent, 
so the ages since have often been shown to be but the un- 



THE PROPHECY. 57 

folding of his true power and glory in the progress of his 
kingdom among men. With the historical verity of his 
person and career, Christianity stands or falls. The per- 
son of Jesus Christ constitutes Christianity in its highest 
and truest sense. 1 

It is natural, therefore, in these days, when radical in- 
fidelity is pushing its destructive criticism to the utmost, 
that the life of Jesus Christ should become the centre 
of the religious controversies which are agitating the 
world. 2 

To attempt a full discussion of this whole subject, or 
to give a detailed chronological exhibition of the life of 
Christ, would obviously lead beyond the scope of the 
present work. Nothing more can be done than to group 
the main facts and direct the attention of the reader — 
who wishes to consider the subject further — to some of 
the writers from whom he can obtain the needed guid- 
ance and assistance. 

The Time of the Advent. According to the view 
long held and early indorsed by the Romish Church, 
Jesus Christ was born on Christmas, at the opening of 
the Christian Era, or about 754 years after the founding 
of Rome. A more accurate historical knowledge has 
made it evident that his birth was rather four or five years 
earlier, or about 750 or 749 after the founding of Rome, 
and most probably in the spring-time. This conclusion 
is based upon the fact that Herod the Great, in whose 
reign the birth of Christ took place, died in the fourth 
year before the commencement of our era, shortly before 
Easter. 3 

The important facts connected with the Advent may 

1 See Schaff, The Person of Christ, p. 9. 

2 See Teschendorf, The Origin of the Gospels, p. 23. Also, Row, The Su- 
pernatural in the New Testament, pp. 4-8. 

3 See Matthew ii. 1 ; Josephus, Antiquities, xvii. 9, 3 ; Andrews, Life of 
our Lord ; Robinson, Harmony of the Gospels. 



58 ADVENT OF MESSIAH. 

be found in the opening chapters of the Gospels. That 
Christ came at just the right juncture in the unfolding 
of the divine plan is the main point for present consider- 
ation. 

Lange has remarked, that the days of Herod form the 
centre of the world's history, and that every review of 
the state of the Jewish and heathen world, at the time 
of Christ's birth, confirms the truth of the remark of 
Paul to the Galatians, that he appeared when the fullness 
of the time was come. 1 

Many prophecies combined to fix upon just that as the 
time for the appearance of the great Deliverer. 

Jacob, in blessing his sons, declared that the sceptre 
was not to depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver to cease 
from among his descendants, till Shiloh should come 
(Genesis xlix. 10). In Herod the Great, Judah still had 
a king, but perhaps in less than a month after the birth 
of Jesus, Herod died, and the kingdom as such came to 
an end. 

A special period — marked according to the method 
elsewhere used in the Jewish Scriptures, of computing by 
heptads (weeks) of years — was fixed, from the going 
forth of the command to restore and to build Jerusalem, 
to the cutting off of Messiah (Dan. ix. 24-27). Start- 
ing from the time of the issue of the commission of 
Artaxerxes to Ezra (Ezra vii. 12-28), say about 457 B. 
C, the middle of the seventieth heptad reached forward 
486^ years, to about 30 years after the opening of the 
Christian Era, as the date of the death of Messiah. 2 
The same prophecy fixed with great accuracy the dura- 
tion of Messiah's public work and the date of the de- 
struction of the Holy City by the Romans. 

The time of the manifestation of Christ in his public 

1 Lange, Commentary on Luke, p. 33. 

2 See Prideaux ; also, Wordsworth, Daniel and the Minor Prophets. 



THE EXPECTATION. 59 

work was also determined by prophecy. He was to 
come, the desire of all nations, to the second temple, and 
to impart to it by his presence a greater glory than that 
of Solomon's temple (Hag. ii. 7-9 ; Mai. iii. 1). A 
generation later than the death of Jesus the temple 
passed away and this prediction could not have been ful- 
filled after that date. 

More definitely still, a herald was to appear before 
Messiah, a voice crying in the wilderness, making pre- 
paration for his coming (Isa. xl. 3; Mai. iii.; iv. 5). A 
few months before the entrance of Jesus upon his pub- 
lic mission, John the Baptist appeared, claiming to be 
such a herald, and in due time baptizing Jesus and intro- 
ducing him to the Jewish nation as the Messiah (Matt, 
iii. ; Mark i. ; Luke iii. ; John i.). 

The Expectation of the World. These are only 
instances taken out of that great mass of prophecy which 
at the time of the Advent, through the temple and syn- 
agogue system, had brought the Jews into an attitude of 
hourly expectancy of the Messiah. 

That there was a like expectancy, throughout the 
heathen world, of some deliverer or ruler to come forth 
from Judaea, is equally clear. It was thus that the Magi 
came, at the right hour, inquiring at Jerusalem after the 
new-born King of the Jews. Suetonius relates that " an 
ancient and definite expectation had spread throughout 
the East, that a ruler of the world would, at about that 
time, arise in Judaea." 1 Tacitus makes a similar state- 
ment. 2 Schlegel mentions that the Buddhist missiona- 
ries traveling to China met Chinese sages going to seek 
the Messiah about 33 A. D. 3 

The entire world was thus evidently in an attitude of 

1 Life of Vespasian, c. iv. 

2 History, v. 13. 

8 Philosophy of History. 



60 ADVENT OF MESSIAH. 

expectancy. The Oriental had despaired of his material 
magnificence, the Greek of his reason and philosophy, 
and the Roman was despairing of his universal empire. 
God must interpose or the world must perish. 1 

SECTION H. 
THE CAREEB, OF JESUS. 

At just the right hour Jesus Christ came and accom- 
plished his appointed task, in a life of probably a little 
over thirty-three years, about three and a half of which 
were devoted to his public ministry. The attempted 
chronological arrangement of all the recorded facts of 
his career may be consulted in the various Harmonies. 2 

I. Outline of the Career. 

Without entering into the minute details of the har- 
monists, a fair working outline of the life of Christ may 
be constructed from the chronological data furnished 
chiefly by John and Luke. John, as is well known, nar- 
rates the whole period of our Lord's public ministry in 
connection with his journeys to Jerusalem to keep the 
different feasts, omitting no single passover occurring 
during this period, but even mentioning the one not 
kept by him at Jerusalem (John vi. 4). He has thus 
furnished the scheme of Christ's public ministry. Luke 
has not only supplied several special dates of the greatest 
importance, 3 but has in his preface intimated his inten- 
tion of narrating the events of our Lord's life in order, 
— an order doubtless largely chronological. 

Wieseler's Outline. Paying due regard to these data 
from John and Luke ; admitting and emphasizing the 

1 See Bollinger. 

2 See Andrews, Life of Our Lord ; Eobinson, Harmony of the Gospels. 

3 Luke ii. 1 ; iii. 23 ; Acta i. 1,3; and particularly "Luke iii. 1, 2. 



THE CAREER. 61 

impossibility of securing a perfect chronological arrange- 
ment of all the facts ; and avoiding that fatal error 
of the harmonists, of attempting to secure chronological 
unity at the expense of the individuality of the Gospels, 
— Wieseler divides the Gospel History into six Sec- 
tions. 1 

Section 1. The history of our Lord's childhood. Luke 
i. 5-ii. 52. Compare Luke iii. 23-38. Matt, i., ii. 

Section 2. From the first public appearance of John 
the Baptist, and then of our Lord, to the imprisonment 
of the Baptist, and Christ's return to Galilee, after his 
journey to the Feast of Purim. Luke iii. 1-iv. 13 ; 
Mark i. 1-13 ; Matt. iii. 1-iv. 11 ; John i. 19-v. 47. 

Section 3. From our Lord's return to Galilee to his 
journey to the Feast of Tabernacles. Luke iv. 14-ix. 
50 ; Mark i. 14-ix. 50 ; Matt. iv. 12-xviii. 35 ; John vi. 
1-vii. 1. 

Section 4. From our Lord's journey to the Feast of 
Tabernacles to his last regal entry into Jerusalem. Luke 
iv. 51-xix. 28 ; Mark x. 1-52 ; Matt. xix. 1-xx. 34 ; 
John vii. 2-xii. 11. 

Section 5. From our Lord's regal entry into Jerusalem 
to the day of his crucifixion and burial. Luke xix. 29- 
xxiii. 55 ; Mark xi. 1-15, 47 ; Matt. xxi. 1-xxvii. 61 ; 
John xii. 12-xix. 42. 

Section 6. From our Lord's burial to his ascension. 
Luke xxiii. 56-xxiv. 53 ; Acts i. 1-11 ; Mark xvi. 1-20 ; 
Matt, xxvii. 62-xxviii. 20 ; John xx. 1-xxi. 25. 

Simplified Outline. It will be observed at a glance 
that Section 2 takes in our Lord's early ministry in 
Judaea ; Section 3, his public ministry in Galilee ; and 
Section 4, his ministry in Perrea, after he was driven 
from his public ministry in Judaea and Galilee by the hos- 
tility of the Jews. This suggests, as more easily remem- 

1 See Wieseler, Chronological Synopsis of the Four Gospels, p. 24. 



62 ADVENT OF MESSIAH. 

bered, the following statement of the divisions given by 
Wieseler : — 

Section 1. The childhood, and youth. Thirty years 
from 4 B. c. to 26 A. D. 

Section 2. The inauguration and ministry in Judaea. 
About one year, from 26-27 A. D. 

Section 3. The public ministry in Galilee. About two 
years, from 27-29 A. D. 

Section 4. The public ministry in Peraea — beyond 
Jordan. About six months, from October, 29 A. D., to 
April, 30 A. D. 

Section 5. The atonement by death. About one week, 
April 2d to 8th, 30 A. d. 

Section 6. The burial, resurrection, and ascension. 
About forty days, from April 9th to about May 18th, 
30 A. D. 

II. The Historical Reality of the Career, 

It is admitted on all hands that " the life of Jesus 
is the most momentous of all questions which the Church 
has to encounter, — the one which is decisive whether it 
shall or shall not live." x If his life be not a reality, then 
even the morality which is based upon the Gospels has its 
root in immorality, — in a lie. What then of the histor- 
ical reality? 

The direct knowledge of the life of Jesus is derived al- 
most exclusively from the four Gospels. The other writ- 
ings of the New Testament, however, furnish some addi- 
tional facts. 

After these comes the indirect knowledge from writings 
based upon the Sacred Scriptures, whether by the advo- 
cates or the opposers of the Christian system, and which 
attest the facts of Christ's life, because these writings 
must have originated in the facts. 

1 See Tischendorf, Origin of the Four Gospels, p. 24. 






THE CAKEER. 63 

Finally, in two classical writers, Tacitus and Pliny, we 
possess incidental expressions which have a lasting inter- 
est. The former testifies that Christ, the founder of the 
religion which had gained so strong a hold even in Nero's 
time, had been punished with death, by the procurator 
Pontius Pilate, daring the reign of Tiberius. 1 The latter 
asserts, in a communication to Trajan, that the Chris- 
tians, already a numerous body in Bithynia, were in the 
habit of singing songs of praise to Christ as God. 2 

It is therefore easy to see why the Gospels are the 
main point of attack in the present age. They are the 
chief direct witnesses to the historical reality of the life 
of Jesus Christ. 

Whether judged by the plain principles of common 
sense or by the formal canons of a scientific criticism, the 
argument for the historical verity of the life of Christ, as 
that life is presented in the Gospels, is of overwhelming 
force. It will only be proper, in this connection, to ad- 
vert to some of its forms, chiefly in order to direct atten- 
tion to some of those works accessible on the subject 
which may be consulted with profit. 

From Common Sense. From the point of view of 
common sense, the history of the w r orld, both before and 
since the beginning of the Christian era, is a Sphinx's rid- 
dle, if the historical truth of the life of Jesus Christ be de- 
nied. How was it that all the ages before reached out in 
type and prophecy and human longing and development 
toward the man of Nazareth, and found their fulfillment 
and completion only in him ? How is it that all the ages 
since have been but the logical unfolding from the life of 
that central figure of human history ? How could a myth 
— an impostor, a cheat, a lie — give to man all his highest 
blessings, and all his grandest civilization, and inspire all 

1 Tacitus, Annal. xv. 44. 

2 Pliny, Epist. x. 97. See Tischendorf, Origin, etc. p. 25. 



64 ADVENT OF MESSIAH. 

his noblest purposes and achievements ? The historical 
verity of the Christ-life in the Gospels is the only suffi- 
cient reason for the movements of the ancient ages, the 
only adequate cause for the developments of the modern 
ages and the Christian anticipations of the future ages. 

In the view of common sense, a mythical Christ and 
no Christ at all are equally fatal to the rationalistic hy- 
potheses. 

1st. On the supposition that Jesus of Nazareth never 
actually existed, it is not within the range of rational be- 
lief that the idea of such a being was formed in that 
country, in that age, and in the minds of such men as the 
Evangelists are held to have been, and as in point of men- 
tal endowment and culture and social rank they certainly 
were. When it shall have been fully ascertained what 
that being who is presented to us in the Gospels really 
was, the evidence will be irresistible that this is not 
within the range of rational belief, but is so unlikely and 
unnatural as to be morally impossible. It would contra- 
dict all experience and all legitimate induction from ex- 
perience, and be as utterly out of the course of human 
things as any miracle ever recorded. 1 The men of that 
age never could have conceived the life of Jesus unless 
they had first witnessed it ; never could have conceived 
his sublime doctrine unless they had first heard it. 

2d. On the supposition that Jesus of Nazareth did act- 
ually exist, and that the statements made by the Gos- 
pels concerning the facts of his humanity are on the ivhole 
what the writers saw and heard, then the facts concern- 
ing his divinity must likewise be true, and the entire 
record of the Gospels must be true. 

It has been shown by various able writers, in pursuing 
this line of argument, that the life of Jesus stands out a 
mysterious exception to all the laws which ordinarily 
govern the destiny of men. 

1 See Young, Christ of History, p. 24. 



THE CAREER. 65 

The outer conditions of that life were most unfavor- 
able. He was born in poverty, among the lowly and 
ignorant, wrought for most of his life as a carpenter, re- 
ceived no formal education, had only the companionship 
of peasants and fishermen, and no acquaintance with the 
great and wise, received no patronage of any kind from 
any one. 

His public life was the briefest, — only a little over 
three years and this friendless young peasant of Galilee 
came to his death of shame by the cross. Even in that 
brief course he used no ordinary weapons or machinery 
or plans, but only the simple utterance of great spiritual 
truths which men hated, and the setting at work of 
invisible spiritual forces at which men scoffed. The 
moral condition of the age and place in which he ap- 
peared was eminently unfavorable. It was an age of 
awful corruption, as witnesses Paul, in the Epistle to the 
Romans, in his description of the state of the Gentile 
world, and as also witness the heathen historians of that 
age. The land of the chosen race, with its greater light, 
was the centre of moral perversity ; Galilee was disrepu- 
table even in that ; and Nazareth was the focus of intel- 
lectual as well as of moral darkness. There was nothing 
in those thirty years in that centre of darkness to develop 
such character, life, and doctrine as those of the Jesus 
of the Gospels. A righteous man could ask with pious 
horror, " Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ? " 

Yet out of Nazareth came forth Jesus, of his own free 
will, claiming to be the Messiah, yet wearing a form 
wholly different from that of the Messiah expected by his 
age, and possessed with an idea wholly original and 
totally different from that of his age, — he came forth 
to save not from earthly subjection but from sin, and to 
save not Judaea only, but all the lost world. 

Just as evidently unique was he in his spiritual indi- 



Db ADVENT OF MESSIAH. 

viduality, — in his constant and conscious communion 
with God ; in his consciousness of sinlessness, of divinity 
and of the grandest of missions ; in the universality, com- 
pleteness, and unapproachable greatness of his manhood, 
attained and manifested by him without apparent cause 
and without conscious effort; in the entire unselfishness 
and boundless self-sacrifice of his life and in the sublime 
devotion of it to God and humanity ; in his faith in God 
and truth and in his calm assurance of the triumph of 
his kingdom on earth. In all these he was absolutely 
alone among men. 

In the centre of darkness he began a unique work 
with the revelation to men of their moral condition and 
with the call to repentance, and there he gathered the 
disciples who in his name should conquer the world. 
Mingling a terrible severity with a divine tenderness, 
and uniting the severest simplicity with the most abso- 
lute authority, he dealt with the corrupt age, sparing no 
wickedness, overlooking no sorrow, teaching in a form 
and clearness unattained by any other teacher the three 
great doctrines which are announced in the Gospels, — 
the doctrine of the soul, the doctrine of God, and the 
doctrine of the reconciliation of the soul and God by his 
sacrificial death alone. 

Such a character, personality, work, in such outer 
conditions, are simply impossible, except upon the sup- 
position of the Deity of Jesus Christ. They forbid — 
even if the supernatural elements are left out of sight — 
his classification with men as a mere man. The simple 
facts of his humanity, once admitted, irresistibly bear 
with them the undoubted truth of his Godhead. 1 The 
historical verity of the life of Jesus of Nazareth cannot be 
denied without abjuring common sense. 

1 See Young, Christ of- History. Also, Bushnell, Nature and the Super- 
natural, ch. x., " The Character of Jesus forbids his possible Classifica- 
tion with Men." 



THE CAREER. 67 

From Scientific Criticism. It has been shown to 
be equally beyond the range of rational belief that the 
Apostles did their preaching and wrought the mightiest 
revolution of all ages without the actual existence and 
career of Jesus as presented in the Gospels. Without 
the verity of the history no adequate and rational motive 
for their conduct can possibly be pointed out. 

" There never was such a being as Jesus of Naza- 
reth ! " Whence then this mightiest movement of time, 
which is seen in the origin, development, and world-wide 
sway of Christianity ? 

" He was but a miserable deceiver, at the best, himself 
deluded while misleading others ! " How then this world 
of light out of such utter darkness ? Who can believe 
that all the best blessings of the world could come from 
such a source ? Is a lie more beneficent than the truth ? 

" The disciples were convinced that he was a failure, 
but they stole away his dead body and devoted them- 
selves heart and soul to keeping up the work of decep- 
tion which he had begun ! " Can a sane man believe 
that ? Do men naturally act from such motives ? Would 
they keep up such a course, with no whisper of dissent 
or exposure of the base secret, through fire and blood, 
along all ages, until the world is converted to their lie ? 
Imagine the poor fishermen and peasants, in deadly fear 
and in despair, stealing away that lifeless body of Jesus 
for such a purpose ! 

The conclusion of scientific criticism is in accordance 
with that of common sense, — that the Gospels are ver- 
itable history. Such criticism in its only proper form is 
simply the best rational application of common-sense 
principles. 

The evidence bearing upon the genuineness and au- 
thenticity of the Gospels has been often and admirably 
presented by the scientific defenders of Christianity. 



05 ADVENT OF MESSIAH. 

Teschendorf has exhibited in a simple and interesting, 
though not eminently systematic, manner, for the Chris- 
tian public at large, and with a knowledge of the an- 
cient authorities unequaled by any of his opponents, the 
main facts and arguments in favor of the Gospel claims. 1 

Professor Fisher has set forth, in his clear and compact 
style, for the more cultivated Christian public, a broad 
and complete view of the subject, in which he has not 
only established the claims of the Gospels by the prin- 
ciples of scientific historical criticism, but has also stated 
and refuted successively the various false hypotheses of 
the rationalists, — including those of Baur, Strauss, and 
Renan, and that of their chief American imitator, Theo- 
dore Parker. 2 

But perhaps the freshest, ablest, and most complete 
presentation of the latest aspects of this whole question 
may be found in " The Supernatural in the New Testa- 
ment Possible, Credible, and Historical," by Rev. C. A. 
Row, prepared and published at the request of the lead- 
ing British Society devoted to the work of keeping the 
subject of Christian Evidences before the public. The 
author was invited to undertake this important work, 
because in his previous publication he had shown him- 
self peculiarly qualified to meet and answer the later 
skeptical writers on their own ground. 3 

What with the common-sense and the scientific criti- 
cism, the Christian may confidently conclude that there 
is nothing in the ancient history of the world more cer- 
tain than — nay, nothing so certain as — the facts of the 
career of Jesus Christ. The probabilities in favor of 
the view that Jesus Christ was born, lived, suffered, 
died, and rose from the dead, as the Gospels represent, 

1 See The Origin of the Gospr/s. 

2 See Essays on the Supernatural Origin of Christianity. 

3 See Row, The Jesus of the Evangelists. 



PREACHING OF THE APOSTLES. 69 

are overwhelmingly great, as against either the hypoth- 
esis of a mythical Christ or of no Christ at all. The 
Gospels are veritable history, or else no such thing as 
veritable history can be shown to have come down to us 
from the ancient times. 

The deliverer came forth from Judaea, as the world 
expected, and by his life and death prepared the forces 
which were to renovate the race. How out of the 
shame and death with which his career ended could the 
longed-for life and glory arise ? 

SECTION HI. 

THE PREACHING OF THE APOSTLES. 

There are two sources of information concerning the 
apostolic work : the Sacred Scriptures, and the facts and 
traditions preserved by the early Christian writers. 

I. Facts from the Scriptures. 

The Apostolic History, as given by the sacred writ- 
ers, may be subdivided into two parts : a connected 
narrative, extending from our Lord's ascension to the 
second year of Paul's captivity at Rome, embodied in 
the Acts of the Apostles ; and a body of detached and 
incidental statements, scattered throughout the other 
books of the New Testament. 

Of the Acts of the Apostles, Dr. J. Addison Alex- 
ander has said, that the subject is " a special history of 
the planting and extension of the Church among the 
Jews and Gentiles, by the gradual establishment of ra- 
diating centres or sources of influence at certain salient 
points throughout a large part of the empire, beginning 
at Jerusalem and ending at Rome." 1 

The two central figures in the Acts are Peter and 

1 Alexander, Acts of the Apostles, vol. i., Introduction. 



70 ADVENT OF MESSIAH. 

Paul, — the former in the first twelve chapters and the 
latter in the last sixteen. Yet the book is as far as pos- 
sible from being a biography of these two men, either as 
individuals or as Apostles. The subject of the first part 
is not Peter, but the planting and extension of the 
Church among the Jews by the ministry of the Apostles, 
among whom Peter appears as a leader, often associated 
with the whole body, but sometimes especially with 
John. The subject of the second part is not Paul, but 
the planting and extension of the Church among the Gen- 
tiles by the ministry of Paul. 

From the point of view of the present work, it will 
appear that the Acts of the Apostles furnishes a glimpse 
— an outline sketch — of the work of the Apostles in 
fulfilling the commission and giving the Gospel to the 
world. It describes its promulgation among those repre- 
senting the three great world-wide phases of thought, — 
at Jerusalem, the centre of Jewish religion and influence 
in the early Church ; at Antioch, the centre of Greek 
thought and influence ; and at Rome, the centre of Ro- 
man power and influence. Along these three lines of 
apostolic effort, as will subsequently appear, the first 
three Gospels had their origin. 

The book begins too late to take in the work done for 
the Jews during the life of Jesus, and recorded in the 
Gospels ; and it ends before the later and more extended 
spiritual influence of John's work in Asia Minor and 
throughout the Church. Nevertheless, all the men con- 
nected with the four Gospels engage in its work, and, 
with the exception of one, are prominent in it ; Matthew, 
as one of the Twelve, at the opening of the history; 
Peter and Mark, and Paul and Luke, as the chief actors 
in the early progress of the Christian movement ; and 
John, as singled out from the rest at the outset. 

From the remaining portions of the Sacred Script- 



PKEACHIXG OF THE APOSTLES. 71 

ures — the Epistles and the Apocalypse — a body of 
detached and incidental statements is derived, which may 
be used to supplement and complete the account given in 
the Acts. Among other things, glimpses are given of the 
movements of Peter and John among the Gentiles, by 
which, after their work recorded in the Acts, they ex- 
tended their influence over the Roman world ; and it is 
suggested that Paul was probably released from prison at 
Rome, to push his mission work still farther among the 
heathen, and to be again at a later date placed in bonds 
to suffer martyrdom. 

It is manifest to the careful reader of the Acts of 
the Apostles, that the same temple and synagogue sys- 
tem which had so long connected Jerusalem with all the 
world, and by means of which the universal expectancy 
of a coming deliverer had been awakened, was one chief 
agency employed by the followers of Jesus of Nazareth 
in disseminating his doctrine. 

The early work centred in Jerusalem, and especially 
in the temple itself, as may be seen from the first five 
chapters of the Acts, which end with the declaration that, 
" daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased 
not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." The influences, 
however, reached out almost immediately to the syna- 
gogues of the foreign Jews and Judaized foreigners. The 
sixth and seventh chapters of the Acts give a glimpse of 
the work in one of these synagogues, so numerous in the 
Holy City. In it the proto-martyr Stephen discusses the 
truths of the Gospel with the representatives of Europe, 
Asia, and Africa. 

In their work abroad over the world the Apostles and 
other early preachers found the synagogues the great cen- 
tres for influencing men, and the new faith was pro- 
claimed in these throughout the Roman Empire in an 
incredibly short space of time. When Saul went on his 



72 ADVENT OF MESSIAH. 

journey of persecution to Damascus, it was with letters 
to the synagogues ; and when he was converted he 
straightway preached Christ in the synagogues (Acts ix. 
2, 20). It was in the synagogues that the way was pre- 
pared for reaching both Jew and Gentile, — as in the 
preaching of Paul and Barnabas at Antioch in Pisidia 
(Acts xiii. 14, 42) ; at Iconium (Acts xiv. 1) ; and at 
other places. 

In the providence of God the same great system of in- 
tercourse which had been the means of preparing the 
world for the Advent became a most important agency 
in giving that world the Gospel. 

II. Facts from Tradition. 

It is true, however, that the work of the majority 
of the Apostles in spreading the Gospels throughout the 
world is not exhibited in the sacred writings. What is 
known of it is learned chiefly from the early ecclesiasti- 
cal writers, — as Nicephorus, Tertullian, Eusebius, and 
others. 

It is sometimes difficult to pick out the precise histori- 
cal facts from the mass of statements, yet the current 
traditions, generally received at the time, doubtless had 
a basis of historic fact, and are worthy of some degree 
of credence. It is made clear that such were the zeal 
and success of the Apostles, that at the close of the first 
century Christianity had been preached and embraced 
throughout and even beyond the bounds of the Roman 
empire. 

It is said that Andrew carried the Gospel through 
Scythia and the neighboring countries, and then over 
into eastern Europe ; and that he at last suffered mar- 
tyrdom on the cross at Patrasa, a city of Achaia. 

James, the brother of John, is said to have preached 
to the dispersed Jews in Judaea, Samaria, and Spain, 



PREACHING OF THE APOSTLES. 73 

and to have settled at last in Jerusalem, where the Acts 
assure us he was beheaded by Herod (xii. 2). 

Philip, after preaching successfully for several years in 
upper Asia, went to Hierapolis, the centre of idolatry in 
Phrygia in Asia Minor, and perished by martyrdom in 
the attempt to overthrow that idolatry. 

Bartholomew, or Nathanael, preached abroad as far as 
Hither India ; then returned westward and labored with 
Philip in Hierapolis in the overthrow of idolatry ; and, 
barely escaping martyrdom there, bore the message of his 
Master up to Albania, on the shores of the Caspian Sea, 
where he won the martyr's crown. 

Simon, the Canaanite or Zealot, is said to have 
preached the Gospel in Egypt, Cyrene, Africa, and 
finally in Britain, where he was put to death on the 
cross. 

Jude first preached in Syria and afterward throughout 
Judaea, Galilee, Samaria, Idumea and Arabia, Syria, 
Mesopotamia and Persia, and at last fell a martyr 
through the zeal of the Magi in the defense of the old 
Oriental faith. 

Matthias, who took the place of Judas, first preached 
with great success in Judaea, and afterward in Ethiopia, 
where he was stoned and beheaded. 

Tradition adds to the statements of the Scriptures 
much that is interesting and important concerning the 
lives of the men whose names are immediately connected 
with the Gospels. This will properly be brought for- 
ward in treating of the authorship of the Gospels. 1 

It is obvious from the Scriptures and tradition com- 
bined, that before the close of the apostolic age the 
Great Commission had already met its fulfillment, in 
spirit at least. This brought the crisis of that age, fore- 
told by Christ in his last days. The Church, a spiritual 

1 See Kitto, History of the Bible. 



74 ADVENT OF MESSIAH. 

kingdom, had now been firmly established the world 
over. The time had come when men could everywhere 
worship the Father in spirit and in truth. There was, 
therefore, no longer need of the great religious centre at 
Jerusalem and of the temple and synagogue system. 
Apostate Judaism had become only an influence for evil, 
everywhere interfering with the progress of the Gospel. 
The proclamation of the crucified Christ seems quickly 
to have sifted the false and the true ; and then the re- 
jecters of the new doctrine, still holding possession of the 
synagogues, became the agents of bloody persecutions. 
It was in this way that Stephen met with his death and 
that the first persecution arose (Acts vii., viii.). It was 
the apostate Jews in the synagogue at Damascus who 
sought to slay Saul of Tarsus (Acts ix. 22) ; and the 
Hellenistic Jews at the synagogue at Jerusalem who 
afterward attempted the same thing (Acts ix. 29). 

It was largely out of the foreign element connected 
with the synagogues that the Church was gathered, while 
most of the Jews rejected the claim of Jesus to be the 
Christ, and organized persecution against the Christians ; 
as was the case at Thessalonica (Acts xvii. 1-9). The 
synagogue at Berea is instanced as a marked exception 
to this general rule (Acts xvii. 10-12) ; but the Jews 
of Thessalonica, by their emissaries, extended the perse- 
cution even to Berea, and drove Paul out of it (Acts 
xvii. 13-15). 

This inference from the Acts is confirmed by Justin 
Martyr, who affirms that " converts, in greater numbers 
and of more genuine character, proceeded from the body 
of the pagans, than from the great mass of the Jews." * 
It is still further manifest from the writings of Justin, 
that the more thoroughly Judaized this pagan element 

i See Justin Martyr, Apolog. 1. 2, f. 88. Neander, Church History, vol. 
i. p. 63. 



ORIGIN OF THE WRITTEN GOSPELS. 75 

had become, the more hopeless was the task of preaching 
the Gospel to it. Of the proselytes in the strict sense, 
he says to the Jews, that they " do not simpty not be- 
lieve, but they blaspheme the name of Christ twofold 
more than yourselves, — and they would murder and tor- 
ture us, who do believe on hint ; for they strive in every 
respect to become like you." 1 It was from proselytes of 
the gate, or those who had adopted from the Jewish sys- 
tem the principles of theism and the hope of Messiah, 
without becoming wholly Jews, that the mass of con- 
verts to the Church came. 

When these converts had been gathered into the 
Church, — the few Jews and the many pagans, — the 
work of temple and synagogue as a connected and world- 
wide system was done. They could henceforward be a 
source of only evil to the world-religion, — a source of 
terror in that age only less dreadful than Jesuitism with 
the Inquisition in a later age. The destruction of the 
temple by Titus, in 70 A. D., and the breaking up of the 
Jewish nation, destroyed at once the centre and the 
power of the old system, and brought the Christian 
Church into its true place of prominence and influence. 

Thenceforward there were four distinct classes of rep- 
resentative men, and four definite and different phases 
of thought, recognized in the ancient world, — Jewish, 
Greek, Roman, and Christian. 

SECTION IV. 

THE ORIGIN OF THE WRITTEN GOSPELS. 

"While the great work of the Apostles and their co- 
laborers was still going forward in the full tide of its 
energy, the chief business was that of preaching the 
doctrine of Christ's life, crucifixion, and resurrection for 

1 See Neander, Church History, vol. i, p. 67. 



76 ADVENT OF MESSIAH. 

the salvation of the world. In the early stages there was 
little need of written records, for there were the living 
and divinely inspired witnesses. 

But as the work widened there came, in the various 
local churches, emergencies requiring special instruction 
on the varied topics of the Gospel as related to Chris- 
tian life. Before the Apostles passed off the stage of ac- 
tion there arose the necessity for a permanent record of 
the story of the Gospel as they had proclaimed it to 
men. Hence were given to the Church the Epistles and 
the Apocalypse, and the four Gospels. The origin of 
the latter alone requires to be considered in this connec- 
tion. 

I. Theory of the Origin. 

In a true theory of their origin is found the explana- 
tion of the number of the Gospels, their peculiarities, 
their agreements and differences. Such a theory must 
evidently be based upon and constructed out of the facts 
of the age and work of the Apostles. 1 It must run 
somewhat as follows : — 

The Gospel for the World. The aim of the Great 
Commission and the common design of the four Gospels 
were to commend Jesus the Nazarene to all mankind as 
the great Deliverer from sin and its evil consequences. 
" Go preach my Gospel to every creature." 

The Races of the World. As has been seen, there 
were three great races and three great phases of thought 
reaching throughout that world with which Christianity 
first came into contact, — the Jewish, the Roman, and 
the Greek. There was in addition the kingdom of Christ, 
the Church, constituted of those brought out of the three 
races of men and made spiritual by the preaching of the 
Gospel. 

1 See Westcott, Introduction to the Study of the Gospels, ch. iii., for a clear 
and valuable discussion of the origin of the Gospels. 



ORIGIN OF THE WRITTEN GOSPELS. 77 

The Preaching to the World. The Apostles went 
forth preaching the Gospel like common-sense men, pre- 
senting Jesus to each of the three great races or classes 
of mankind in the way best suited to the end in view, 
of leading those races to submit to him as the divine 
Saviour. The same presentation would not equally com- 
mend him to all the races. Each of them had its pecul- 
iarities which must be taken into account ; each of them 
its side to be reached ; each of them its own character- 
istic view of the evils of the world and of the qualities 
of the needed deliverer, of which, so far as it was right, 
the Gospel must take advantage. Those early preachers 
took wise account of all this, and preached to the Jew, 
to the Roman, and to the Greek, — from the three great 
centres, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Rome, as set forth in 
the Acts, — in a form suited to their needs. 

After the Church had been founded and enlarged by 
converts made in all lands by the preaching of the mis- 
sionary Gospel in its varied adaptation to the races, that 
Gospel which presents Christ as the light and life, for 
the purpose of leading men, already Christians, to higher 
attainments in the Christian life, became necessary and 
was preached throughout the w T orld. 

The Permanent Records for the World. But the 
Apostles could not be everywhere and always with men. 
Before they passed away there arose the desire in the va- 
rious races of men, who had heard their Gospel, to have 
it embodied in permanent written form, that it might 
preach to them still when the early preachers were ab- 
sent or dead. 

This desire expressed itself among the Jews, and Mat- 
thew, by divine inspiration, gave them his Gospel to meet 
that desire. It was the Gospel which his long preaching 
to the Jews, the men of prophecy, had already thrown 
into the form best suited to commend to their accept- 
ance Jesus as the Messiah. 



78 ADVENT OF MESSIAH. 

The same desire expressed itself among the Romans, 
and Mark by divine inspiration gave them his Gospel to 
meet that desire. It was the Gospel which Peter, by his 
preaching to the Romans, the men of power, had already 
thrown into the form best suited to commend to their 
acceptance Jesus as the almighty deliverer of men. 

The same desire expressed itself among the Greeks, 
and Luke by divine inspiration gave them his Gospel to 
meet that desire. It had its basis in the Gospel which 
Paul and Luke by their long preaching to the Greeks, 
the men of reason and universal humanity, had already 
thrown into the form best suited to commend to their 
acceptance Jesus as the perfect, divine man. 

All these, the missionary Gospels, were given their 
final shape before the fall of Jerusalem, probably be- 
tween 50 and 70 A. D. 

It was later that the longing came, in the Church, for 
a spiritual Gospel, which should help the Christian to 
develop, strengthen, and perfect the life already begun, 
and John by divine inspiration gave his Gospel to meet 
that longing. It was the Gospel the materials for which 
he had gathered in the more intimate communion with 
his Master, and which, by his long preaching to the 
brethren, he had thrown into the form best suited to com- 
mend to the faith of Christians Jesus as the light and 
life of all who believe. 

II. Historic Basis and Adequacy of the Tlieory, 

Basis. That this is not a mere groundless hypothesis 
may readily be made to appear. It has a stable basis of 
fact. 

That the aim of the Great Commission was to give 
the Gospel to all the world, appears upon its very face. 
The Gospel was to be preached to every creature. 

That there were three great races and three corre- 



ORIGIN OF THE WRITTEN GOSPELS. 79 

* 

sponding phases of thought throughout the world has al- 
ready been shown in treating of the preparation for the 
Advent. 

That the Apostles w r ent forth presenting the Gospel 
to these various classes of men in the way best suited to 
the nature of each, and with the view of winning them 
to Christ as the Saviour, has been seen in considering the 
preaching of the Apostles. 

That the four Gospels actually originated in the man- 
ner stated will be shown in the subsequent chapters in 
treating of the origin of each of the Gospels. 

Adequacy. If this be the true theory, it may read- 
ily be seen that it will furnish a most perfect and satis- 
factory explanation of the number and character of the 
Gospels, and of their otherwise unexplained agreements 
and differences. This will appear best in the course of 
the subsequent discussions, but a brief statement of some 
few points will help to make those discussions more in- 
telligible. 

1st. There are four Gospels, because Jesus was to be 
commended to four races or classes of men, or to four 
phases of human thought, — the Jewish, Roman, Greek, 
and Christian. Had not these exhausted the classes to 
be reached there would doubtless have been more Gos- 
pels ; and had there not been so many classes, with es- 
sential differences in temperament and modes of thought, 
there would doubtless have been less. The world of that 
age must have been revolutionized and the nature of the 
races materially changed to admit of either more or less. 

2dly. The very striking differences seen in the three 
missionary Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and be- 
tween these three and the Christian Gospel, John, are 
fully explained. While the resemblances of the three 
Synoptics originated in the common facts of the charac- 
ter and career of Christ, which all the Apostles went 



80 ADVENT OF MESSIAH. 

forth to preach, the differences originated in the adapta- 
tion of each by a different Apostle to a different class of 
men, — of Matthew to the Jew, of Mark to the Roman, 
and of Luke to the Greek. The fact that the first three 
Gospels were missionary Gospels, originally preached to 
unspiritual men with the view of bringing them to the 
faith in Christ and to the Christian life, accounts for 
their so marked variation from John, the Christian Gos- 
pel, originally preached to spiritual men already brought 
to faith in Christ and into membership in the true 
Church by the Gospel in its first three forms, and 
preached for the purpose of aiding thern in making prog- 
ress in the divine life. The impossibility of only one 
Gospel, the absurdity of four Gospels of precisely simi- 
lar character, the insufficiency of the three missionary 
Gospels, and the completeness of the four Gospels as 
they are, all appear manifest from this point of view. 

3dly. The force of the great mass of alleged discrep- 
ancies, as objections to the historical character of the 
Gospels, is utterly broken by the simple consideration — 
essential to the theory and based upon undoubted facts — 
that the productions of the Evangelists are not histories, 
but memoirs in a modified sense ; in short, not at all 
biographical sketches of Christ, but records of the Apos- 
tles' practical preaching of Christ as the Saviour of men. 1 

The justness of this consideration is manifest, as has 
been shown by Mr. Row, from the statements of their 
object by the Evangelists themselves. The Gospels 
most distinctly affirm that they do not belong to the class 
of professed histories, but to that of memoirs. " They 
not only affirm that they are memoirs, but memoirs of 
a peculiar character, that is to say, religious memoirs, 
composed with a double purpose, namely, that of setting 

1 See Row, The Supernatural, etc. p. 475 ; and Westcott, Introduction, 
etc. ch. iii. 



ORIGIN OF THE WRITTEN GOSPELS. 81 

forth the events of a life and at the same time of teach- 
ing a religion." 

Matthew's object appears in the opening line of his 
book, — to bring the Jew to faith in Jesus as the Mes- 
siah. Mark opens with " the beginning of the gladsome 
message of Jesus Christ the Son of God." Luke writes 
for the special and immediate purpose of communicating 
systematic instruction concerning the Gospel facts to 
Theophilus. John more distinctly declares that he has 
selected his materials out of a large mass and written 
them for a definite religious purpose : " Many signs 
truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are 
not written in this book, but these are written that ye 
may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and 
that believing ye may have life through his name " 
(John xx. 30, 31). 

Even more definitely is the character of the Gospels 
presented in the traditions of their origin, not as his- 
tories but as records of the Apostolic preaching, — as will 
be seen in the subsequent chapters. 

It follows, therefore, that it was no part of the design 
of the writers to secure that chronological accuracy of 
arrangement and of detail which is " essential to history, 
but which forms no portion of the plan of a memoir." l 
It is absurd to demand it of them. They nowhere pro- 
pose to give it. It would have prevented the accomplish- 
ment of their great object ; since religion and not chro- 
nology, conversion of men to Christ and not the writing 
of history, was the chief thing. In preaching to the va- 
rious classes of mankind, those facts and truths were 
brought forward which suited the practical end in view, 
and they were put in that order which seemed best fitted 
to secure the one great result, the acceptance of Jesus as 
the Saviour. Where the order of time suited the preach- 
1 See Row, The Supernatural, etc. 



82 ADVENT OF MESSIAH. 

er's purpose, it was freely followed, and it was as freely 
departed from where it did not suit that purpose. 

In short, chronology is of comparatively little impor- 
tance in the Gospel view of the life of Christ, — of so 
little, indeed, that from John only can be learned the ex- 
tent and the successive periods of the public ministry of 
the Saviour. A rigid adherence to the order of time and 
a complete biography of Jesus would have been the worst 
of faults, a fatal fault, since by eliminating their practi- 
cal features, it would have unfitted the Gospels for 
reaching the various classes of mankind. 

The same point of view makes clear the object of the 
Evangelists in devoting so much space to the narration of 
the events connected with the death of Jesus. The cross 
is the capital fact of Christianity as a religion, the one 
upon which salvation and eternal life depend. Hence 
Matthew, Mark, and Luke give one third of their Gos- 
pels to it, while John gives it one half of his. 

4thly. The theory presented explains the fitness of 
the Gospels for the world in all ages. Those classes were 
representative classes for all time. There are the same 
needs among men to-day, — one man needing, for con- 
viction of the truth of Christianity, to hear an authori- 
tative word of God in type or prophecy, in the Script- 
ures, and to be assured of its fulfillment as proclaiming 
the divine mission of Jesus ; a second needing to see him 
as the divine power in his living activity, confirming his 
own claims ; a third requiring a manifestation of God 
addressed to reason, through the perfect manhood of Je- 
sus ; a fourth demanding only the spiritual presence and 
teachings of Jesus to recognize in him the light and life. 
The Gospels appeal respectively to the instincts which 
lead men to bow to divine authority, power, perfection, 
and spirituality, and may thus be shown to exhaust the 
sides of man's nature from which he may best be reached 



ORIGIN OF THE WRITTEN GOSPELS. 83 

and led to submission to the Saviour, and to complete- 
ness in him. The four Gospels given to men in the 
apostolic times are therefore the complete Gospel of God 
for the world in all ages. 

III. Object of the Present Work. 

The object of the present work is to verify this theory, 
while using it in the elucidation of the meaning of the 
four Gospels. 

The Aim. The attempt will be made to show that 
all the Gospels, both in their general drift and in their 
special peculiarities, fall in with and confirm the theory 
which has been outlined, while the theory itself explains 
or renders significant much in the structure and matter 
of the Gospels that is otherwise inexplicable or without 
significance. 

The subordinate part which the chronological order of 
events plays in the work of the Evangelists will be seen 
in the prosecution of this work. It will appear that 
there is a higher law of unity and arrangement than 
mere succession in time. Out of the vast array of facts 
and events which were crowded into the life of Jesus, 
the Holy Ghost leads each writer to select those which 
will best serve the special purpose of each ; and to ar- 
range them in accordance with his own design, now fol- 
lowing the order of time and now departing from it. 
No one of them attempts a complete life of Christ after 
the pattern of the biographers. All of them together 
can scarcely be said to furnish the materials for such a 
life. 

The Method. It will manifestly be necessary to con- 
sider in connection with each Gospel such questions as 
the following : — 

What was the actual origin of this Gospel, and for 
whom was it especially designed ? 



84 ADVENT OF MESSIAH. 

What was the character and what were the needs of 
those for whom it was written ? 

How far does this Gospel itself agree with the answers 
to these questions, in its authorship, its point of view, its 
material, and its entire scope ? 

No one capable of duly weighing them will consider 
these inquiries unimportant. How important will best 
appear when they have been answered. 



PAET II. 



MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

" One God, one law, one element, 
And one far-off divine event, 
To which the whole creation moves." 

Alfred Tekhyson. 

" The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son 
of Abraham." Matthew L 1. 

"Primus omnium Matthaeus est Publicanus, cognoraento Levi, qui 
Evangelium in Judaea Hebraeo sermone edidit, ob eorum vel maxime 
causam, qui in Jesum crediderant ex Judaus, et nequaquam Legis urn- 
bram, succedente Evangelii veritate, servabant." Jerome. 



CHAPTER I. 

HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE JEWISH ADAPTATION OF 
THE FIRST GOSPEL. 

The investigation of the Gospels for present purposes 
is either historical or critical. The former includes the 
inquiries into their actual historical origin and design, 
into the character of the class for whom they were in- 
tended, and into their authorship. The latter embraces 
the inquiries into their actual contents, and into their 
general and special adaptation to the classes for which 
they were prepared. 



86 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

SECTION I. 
ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF THE FIRST GOSPEL. 

Two questions need to be answered, in accordance 
with the facts of history, if possible, before any complete 
and critical knowledge of the structure and drift of the 
Gospel can be attained. These questions are : What 
was the actual origin of the Gospel according to Mat- 
thew ? For what class of readers was it primarily de- 
signed ? 

I. Imagined Origin. 

The so-called scientific criticism, in the hands of the 
rationalist, has lost both its science and its criticism. It 
has exhausted the power of an ungoverned and ungov- 
ernable imagination in the attempt to account for the 
origin and form of the Gospels, while it has not given 
the least attention to the plain facts of history touching 
the points in question. 

One has imagined an original Hebrew or Aramaean 
Gospel out of which the four were afterwards compiled 
in the most bungling and mechanical manner. By turns 
Matthew, Mark, and Luke have each been made to play 
the part of a fundamental Greek Gospel, on the basis of 
which the remaining ones have been constructed. Some 
have fancied that there was one primitive Gospel, and 
that the separate or remaining Gospels grew out of 
lesser evangelical essays representing single incidents in 
the life of Christ, or out of memoirs of Christ current in 
the early Church. Still others have assumed that the 
Gospels are the productions of the Evangelists whose 
names they bear, who do not however give plain histor- 
ical facts, but " whose minds are said to have expressed 
in nave fiction the consciousness of the Church." 

A first fatal objection to all such hypotheses is, that 



ORIGIN AND DESIGN. 87 

they are pure imagination, with just as considerable a 
basis of fact as " Baron Munchausen " or the " Arabian 
Nights." A second, and equally fatal, is that they do 
not in the slightest measure account for the free and 
beautiful originality and the wonderful and sustained 
unity found in each and all the Gospels. As a conse- 
quence of their utter baselessness and inadequacy, and 
at the same time furnishing a further proof of their fal- 
sity, these innumerable hypotheses have all alike failed 
to command the general assent of even the unbelieving 
world, while the most able and brilliant of them all have 
ultimately, and often speedily, failed to secure the abid- 
ing faith of their own authors, and have fallen into 
merited contempt and oblivion. 

II. Actual Origin and Design. 

The question to be asked by the seeker for truth is 
not, What possible origins of the Gospels can be con- 
ceived ? but rather, What was their actual origin ? Con- 
cerning the first Gospel the question is, What, as a mat- 
ter of history, was the origin, and what the design, of 
the Gospel according to Matthew. 

It must be manifest to any one of average common 
sense, that even second-rate tradition on this point, if 
no better can be obtained, is infinitely more valuable than 
the best conclusions of the uncertain rationalistic imag- 
ination. Of what use, then, the imagination, if the real 
historical origin of the Gospels can be clearly estab- 
lished ? 

Now the fact is that the investigator is not left to 
uncertain tradition, much less to pure conjecture, for it 
can be conclusively shown that Matthew wrote his Gos- 
pel for the Jewish race, the first of the three great rep- 
resentative races of which the civilized world of his day 
was made up. 



88 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

Most Ancient Witness. The most ancient direct tes- 
timony concerning the Gospel according to Matthew is 
that of Papias. Papias was bishop of Hierapolis, in 
Asia Minor, a city which, according to the tradition al- 
ready given, was evangelized by Philip and Bartholo- 
mew. 

The testimony of Papias possibly reaches back to the 
end of the first century, certainly to the beginning of the 
second. Eusebius names him among the famous bishops 
of his age, makes him contemporary with Justus of Jeru- 
salem and Ignatius of Antioch, in the first quarter of the 
second century ; and speaks of him as " a man in the 
highest degree eloquent and learned and above all skilled 
in the Scriptures." 1 Irenseus writes, that he was said 
to be the disciple or hearer of John and the associate of 
Poly carp, who was bishop of Smyrna at the opening of 
the second century. 2 That he refers to John the Pres- 
byter (or elder), the disciple of the Apostles, and not to 
John the Apostle, is evident from the statement of Pa- 
pias himself, as quoted by Eusebius, in which he confesses 
that he heard the words of the Apostles from those who 
were their followers, especially from Aristion and John 
the Presbyter. 3 

The testimony of Papias was originally given in the 
fourth book of a work in five books, which he called, 
" Interpretations of our Lord's Declarations." From 
this work, — now no longer extant, but which still ex- 
isted in the time of Eusebius, in the fourth century, — 
the early church historians have made copious extracts. 4 

In the preface to his work Papias makes known his 
object and method, declaring that he not only recorded 

1 Hist. Ecclee. lib. iii. 36. 

2 Idem, lib. iii. 39. 

3 Idem. 

4 Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. 39. Iren. Against Heresies, book v. ch. 
xxxiii. 4. 



OKIGIN AND DESIGN. 89 

what he found in written form, but also made special 
effort to gather up such unwritten tradition as could be 
traced back to the Apostles. "Xor shall I regret," said 
he, " to subjoin to my Interpretations, also for your ben- 
efit, whatever I have at any time accurately ascertained 
from the Elders and treasured up in my memory, in 
order to give additional confirmation to the truth by my 
testimony. For, as it seems to me, I have never (like 
many) delighted to hear those who make a great show 
of words, but those who teach the truth, nor those who 
relate new and strange precepts, but those who give the 
commands of the Lord and things which came from the 
truth itself. Whenever, therefore, I met with any one 
who had been on intimate terms with the Elders, I used 
to make special inquiries touching what were the utter- 
ances of the Elders, — what Andrew, or Peter, or Philip, 
or Thomas, or James, or John, or Matthew, or any other 
disciple of the Lord, or what Aristion and John the 
Presbyter, also disciples, said. For I believed that the 
books would not be of so much profit to me, as the living 
word of men still surviving." 1 

In the course of his work, in a passage preserved by 
Eusebius, Papias recorded what he was able to learn in 
this way respecting the origin of the Gospels. His tes- 
timony concerning the first Gospel is, that " Matthew 
wrote the Oracles (of the Lord) in the Hebrew tongue, 
and every one interpreted them as he was able." 2 

The circumstances connected with this testimony are 
given thus in detail, in order that the full value of it 
may be seen. It is true that Eusebius elsewhere speaks 
of Papias as a man of inferior judgment ; 3 but it is also 

1 Hist. Ecchs. lib. iii. 39. 

2 Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. 39. See Fisher, Supernatural Origin of 
Christianity, p. 160. 

3 Idem. 



90 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

true that this was chiefly on account of the millenarian 
views of the latter, which were so offensive to the church 
historian. The latter opinion is therefore of little 
weight in comparison with the former high estimate al- 
ready quoted. Papias was evidently a good man, and 
Professor Fisher has rightly said, that " however moder- 
ate his intellectual powers, he was justly regarded as an 
honest witness or reporter of what he had seen and 
heard. He reports what he had received from compan- 
ions of the Apostles." It is likewise well to remember 
that the testimony of a man of narrow intellect may, in 
such circumstances, be even better than that of a greater 
man whose view of facts is warped by adherence to some 
favorite theory. Judged by his purpose, method, and 
opportunities, no better witness need be cited than 
Papias. 

The statement of Papias is then that of a competent 
witness, made after devoting himself intelligently and 
diligently to the work of ascertaining the facts in ques- 
tion. He made his investigations less than a generation 
after the writing of the Gospels, or after an interval less 
than our present remove from the first Napoleon or even 
from the Duke of Wellington. He had the best of op- 
portunities, for Polycarp, whose associate he was, had 
been the disciple and friend of John, and knew more 
about that Apostle than did any one else in that age, and 
more, doubtless, than any of the contemporaries of even 
Napoleon or Wellington knew of them. Such testimony 
can only be made to appear worthless by that destructive 
criticism which would sweep away all the facts of history 
and make Homer, Shakespeare, Napoleon, and Jesus all 
myths alike. 

Later Testimony. But Papias is not alone in his tes- 
timony. Some of the ablest of the leaders of the early 
Church agree with him. 



ORIGIN AND DESIGN. 91 

Irenaeus — the pupil of the same Polycarp, and who 
was bishop of Lyons in the last quarter of the second, 
century — affirms, that " Matthew issued a written Gos- 
}3el among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter 
and Paul were preaching at Rome, and laying the foun- 
dations of the Church." 1 His position in the Church 
and his wide acquaintance with it made him a most credi- 
ble and competent witness. Still more explicitly : " The 
Gospel of St. Matthew was written for the Jews, who 
specially desired that it should be shown that the Christ 
was of the seed of David ; and St. Matthew endeavors 
to satisfy this desire, and therefore commences his Gos- 
pel with the genealogy of Christ." 2 

Origen (disciple of Clement of Alexandria) — a man 
of extraordinary learning and of extensive travel, who 
was known throughout the entire Church during the first 
half of the third century — also declares, that " St. Mat- 
thew wrote for the Hebrew, who expected the Messiah 
from the seed of Abraham and David." 3 

Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, — a historian of great 
celebrity, whose veracity has never been questioned by 
any one except the infidel Gibbon, and who flourished 
during the latter part of the third century and earlier 
part of the fourth, — besides preserving the testimony of 
Papias, as already cited, gives the following definite 
statement of the facts concerning the origin of the first 
Gospel : " Matthew having in the first instance delivered 
his Gospel to his countrymen in their own language, af- 
terward, when he was about to leave them and extend 
his apostolic mission elsewhere, filled up, or completed, 
his written Gospel for the use of those whom he was 
leaving behind, as a compensation for his absence." 4 It 

1 Irenagus, Against Heresies, book iii. i. 1. 

2 Caten. in Matt. Massuet, p. 347 ; Against Heresies, iii. 9, 1. 

3 Origen, In Joann. torn. i. 6. 

4 Euseb. Hist. Eccles. iii. 24. 



92 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

is doubtless true that of all the men of his day Eusebius 
"was the best acquainted with the historical records and 
the traditions of the Church. 

Jerome — " the most learned of the Latin Fathers of 
the Church," who lived still later — says: " The Church, 
which according to the word of Christ is built upon a 

rock, has four evangelical rivers of Paradise 

First of all is Matthew the publican, called Levi, who 
composed a Gospel in the Hebrew tongue for the special 
use of those Jews who had believed in Christ, and no 
longer followed the shadow of the Law, after the reve- 
lation of the substance of the Gospel." 1 

Gregory Nazianzen also affirms that Matthew wrote 
for the Hebrew. 2 

But there is scarcely need of further presentation of 
testimony on a subject upon which there was one harmo- 
nious tradition. 

Pertinent Facts. While many points suggest them- 
selves as worthy of discussion, only the main facts touch- 
ing the origin and design of the first Gospel are related 
directly to the present investigation. These facts are : 
that Matthew wrote the Gospel for his Jewish country- 
men ; that it was the embodiment of the oral Gospel 
which he had preached to them ; that it was intended to 
give that preaching permanent form for their benefit ; 
and that it took advantage of the Jewish Messianic be- 
liefs and was in this way fitted to commend Jesus as the 
Messiah to the Jews. 

There is still another point that should be noticed, which 
bears indirectly upon the theory of the Jewish origin 
of Matthew and is confirmatory of it, but which is not 
essential to that theory. Patristic authority, represented 
in and by the witnesses already cited, is almost unan- 

1 Hieron. Comment, in Evang. Matt. Prolegom. 3, 4. 

2 Carmin. lib. i. sect. i. 12, vers. 31. 



ORIGIN AND DESIGN. 93 

imous in asserting a Hebrew original of the first Gospel. 
The treatment which this testimony has often received 
at the hands of the critics illustrates well the ease with 
which a rash and dogmatic criticism can dispose of the 
plainest facts of history. 

The testimony of these witnesses — the very men 
upon whom largely depend the establishment of the 
canon of the Scriptures and the settlement of the great 
questions of primitive church history — is declared to be 
false, because if there had been a Hebrew original of the 
first Gospel it would have been preserved. How utterly 
unwarranted the assumption may be made apparent by 
a fair presentation of the case. 

These men of the highest character, and with the best 
opportunities for knowing the facts, declare it to be a fact, 
that Matthew first wrote his Gospel in the Hebrew. 
There is entire agreement in the matter, since no one 
in that age contradicts the statement. Aside from its 
being contrary to their acknowledged character to utter 
falsehood, they had in this case no conceivable motive 
for it. 

Moreover, in the view of common sense it seems em- 
inently natural and appropriate that Matthew should ad- 
dress the Gospel to his countrymen in the Hebrew. It 
was at once their sacred language and, in modified form, 
their vernacular tongue ; and one of the best methods of 
allaying prejudices and conciliating them, would be to 
make use of it. Paul used the Hebrew, and with marked 
effect, for this very purpose, when, standing on the stairs 
of the castle above the temple at Jerusalem, he addressed 
the Jewish mob below: "He spake unto them in the 
Hebrew tongue, .... and when they heard that he 
spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more 
silence " (Acts xxi. 40-xxii. 2). That Matthew, a na- 
tive of Judaea, should address the native Jews in the He- 
brew was, of course, still more natural and appropriate. 



94: MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

But the entire question of fact is set at rest by the 
best of direct testimony from those who saw the Gospel 
in its Hebrew form. Jerome, the most skilled of all 
the Fathers in the Hebrew tongue, and who lived in Pal- 
estine, declares that he himself saw the Hebrew Gospel, 
and had an opportunity of transcribing and translating 
it. 1 Epiphanius, one of the most learned among the 
Fathers of the Eastern Church, gives similar testimony. 2 

The disappearance of the Hebrew form of the Gospel 
is easily accounted for by a state of things peculiar to 
that age. Few of the early Christian writers were famil- 
iar with that language. They were accustomed to go to 
the Septuagint or Greek version for their knowledge of 
the Old Testament, and they therefore naturally turned 
to the Greek form in which Matthew's Gospel existed, 
and which was confessedly of divine authority. It is 
moreover true, as is affirmed by early Christian writers, 
that " the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew was used, and 
alone adopted of all the Gospels, by certain heretical sec- 
tions of the ancient Church, the Ebionites, and the Naz- 
arenes ; and was mutilated and interpolated by them." 3 
This abuse of it naturally led the early Christians to 
neglect and avoid it ; while it also explains the fact that 
the authors of the Peschito, or Syriac version of the Gos- 
pels, translated the Greek Gospel of Matthew, instead of 
reproducing or modifying the apostolic original in He- 
brew. 

Or, if these causes were not sufficient to account for its 
disappearance, the great historic event of the age is cer- 
tainly sufficient. The destruction of Jerusalem swept 
away the centre of Hebrew civilization, brought to an 

1 Hieron. de Vir. III. c. 3 ; Contra Pelagianos, lib. iii., etc. 

2 Epiphan. Hceres. xxx. de Ebionitis. 

3 See references to Epiphanius, Jerome, etc., in Wordsworth, Greek Tes- 
tament, Introduction to St. Matthew's Gospel. 



ORIGIN AND DESIGN. 95 

end the knowledge, among the scattered Jewish masses, 
of even the modified or Aramaean form of the language 
which had survived the wreck of the Babylonish captivity, 
and consigned to ultimate destruction most of the He- 
brew literature save the Old Testament Scriptures. The 
Jewish historian Josephus furnishes an illustration of the 
fate of the Hebrew original of Matthew. Josephus him- 
self informs us that he " wrote his great work, the His- 
tory of the Jewish Wars, originally in Hebrew, his na- 
tive tongue, for the benefit of his own nation ; and he 
afterwards translated it into Greek. No notices of the 
original Hebrew now survive : it has perished ; but the 
Greek version is often referred to by the early Christian 
Fathers, and is now extant.'* x Is it any wonder, then, 
that the Hebrew original of the first Gospel, with the 
strong prejudices existing in the Church against its use, 
soon perished ? 2 

As already said, the theory of the present work does 
not directly depend upon the acknowledgment of a He- 
brew original of Matthew's Gospel. Indirectly, how- 
ever, it does ; for if that original be admitted it furnishes 
another indication of the Jewish aim of the Evangelist. 
Besides, the same a priori critical methods that would 
sweep this Hebrew document out of existence would 
carry away with it all the most stable facts of history, 
leave the Gospels without any historical basis, and make 
all investigations concerning them worse than useless. 
As Archbishop Whately so admirably showed in his 
" Historic Doubts," this new and advanced mode of play- 
ing fast and loose with facts would annihilate all history. 

In protesting against such reckless criticism, Principal 
Tulloch, in his "Lectures on Renan," says, on this very 
point : " It appears to us, however, that it is impossible 

1 Josephus, Jewish Wars. 

2 See fuller discussion in Wordsworth. 



96 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

to disregard these statements (of the Fathers) altogether, 
especially while resting so confidently as we do on the tes- 
timony of the same Fathers to the genuineness of the Gos- 
pels. We regret, therefore, to notice that, in the last edi- 
tion of his Greek Testament, Dean Alford goes the length 
of repudiating a Hebrew original of St. Matthew's Gos- 
pel, in the face of evidence which, with all possible deduc- 
tions, seems irresistible." 1 

It may be confidently affirmed then, that, taking into 
account the number, credibility, and competency of the 
witnesses cited, it cannot be reasonably maintained that 
their statements on these points are not in the main 
in agreement with the historical facts, and that they did 
not arise out of those facts. Matthew undoubtedly pre- 
pared his Gospel for the Jews. 

SECTION II. 
THE CHARACTER AND NEEDS OF THE JEW. 

If the first Gospel originated, as has been seen, in the 
preaching of the Apostles, especially of Matthew, to the 
Jews, and was designed to commend Jesus to the accept- 
ance of the Jews, then the character and needs of the 
Jew must furnish the key to that Gospel. 

The Jew must be understood before the Gospel for the 
Jews can be adequately appreciated and interpreted. 
What manner of man was he ? What, especially, were 
his spiritual needs ? The answers will cast light upon 
whatever has been prepared for the Jewish race, under 
the influence of the Holy Ghost. 

I. The Jeivs. 

There are certain characteristics which clearly distin- 
guish the Jews from the other great historic races. 
1 Lecture* or, Ren art's ' Vie rle Jesus,' note, p. 119. 



THE JEWISH CHARACTER. 97 

They were the chosen people of God, and were con- 
scious that God was in a peculiar sense in their his- 
tory. They had the oracles of God, the true world-re- 
ligion. They had the only divinely ordained forms of 
religious worship. Above all, they had the promise of the 
Messiah, in whom all their blessings and privileges should 
attain perfection, and his coming was the central and ab- 
sorbing thought in the mind of the race. 

Out of these characteristics, which made the Jew an 
altogether peculiar man, came the needs of the Jewish 
race, — partly through a right development, partly 
through a wrong. Along the line of these peculiarities 
must, therefore, be sought the correct understanding of 
the Gospel requirements of the Jews in the time of 
Christ and the Apostles. A development altogether 
right would have produced the ideal Jew ; a right and 
wrong combined produced the actual Jew. 

The Chosen People. The Jews were the chosen peo- 
ple of God. They were elected to be the objects of his 
special care, the recipients of his special favor, and, nota- 
bly, to be, in religion, the repository of God's revealed 
truth, the hope of the world, and the central race of the 
ages. No other people has ever occupied such a position. 

Had the Jews made the most and the best of their 
election, they would doubtless have been to-day the most 
favored race of mankind. A sense of the distinguishing 
love of God did indeed lead the true Israel to humility, 
to thankfulness, to devotion to Jehovah, and to an appre- 
ciation of their high destiny. But in the days of Christ 
and the Apostles, as in the time of the Prophets, the true 
Israel was but a remnant. With the great mass of the 
Jews the election had resulted only in pride, conceit, ar- 
rogance. They were ever ready to cry, " We be Abra- 
ham's seed and heirs to the promise of God," — thus 
claiming as their own inherited and inalienable right 



98 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

what could be theirs only through the grace of God and 
fidelity to the covenant. 

The Jews had the clear consciousness that Jehovah 
was in a peculiar sense in their history, as their God. 
This naturally resulted from their election and from their 
experience as a people. No other nation could point to 
such a miraculous career, to such deliverances in which 
God himself appeared in his omnipotence to save them 
from their bondage, from their adversaries, from their 
captivities. Jehovah was known throughout the world 
as the God of the Jews. 

With the true Israel this consciousness of intimate 
union with God was doubtless a source of spiritual profit. 
It was a great comfort in prosecuting the ends of right- 
eousness to feel assured that all the world existed for 
them, that its changes took place for them, that its real 
treasures were to be inherited and enjoyed by them, and 
that all the nations were to become submissive to their 
faith. It sustained them in sore trials and lifted them 
above disaster and defeat and all the accidents of time. 

But with the mass of Jews it led to a national narrow- 
ness and exclusiveness, which had reached their height at 
the time of the Advent. Their selfishness had become 
extreme and proverbial. While they had forgotten that 
they were elect out of the world, not against it but for 
it, in order that all the world might be blessed in them, 
they had also forgotten that the world was not theirs for 
them to make the most of as Jews for their own selfish 
ends, but theirs to bring to the true faith through the 
oracles of God and the coming of the Messiah. Their 
selfishness naturally led to worldliness and covetousness. 
The old Mosaic enactments — such as that of the Sabba- 
tic year and of the tithes to be used in the religious fes- 
tivals and to be distributed to the poor — which were 
intended, negatively, to scatter the Jews' property and 






THE JEWISH CHARACTER. 99 

to check the cupidity of their nature, and, positively, to 
bring out a genuine and large benevolence, had long since 
become a dead letter, and through their haste to become 
rich the name Jew was becoming then, as it is now, " a 
by-word and a hissing." 

The Evangelist who would reach and save the Jews 
must recognize their election and the presence of God in 
their history, and must at the same time aim to correct 
their errors. 

The World-religion. The Jews had the oracles of 
God. The world-religion had been delivered to them. 
They alone had the written revelation of the true God. 
That revelation gave them the key to the character of 
Jehovah, to his works, to his providences, to his sublime 
and eternal plan. It cast the only clear light in the 
world upon the nature, character, condition, and destiny 
of man. It alone gave man a glimpse of the origin and 
end of the universe and the present earthly system of 
things. In short, the Jews had all the clear religious 
light in the world. 

An Apostle has declared that the benefits of the elec- 
tion of Israel were every way great, and chiefly because 
to them were committed the oracles of God (Rom. iii. 2). 
The revelation of doctrine given to the Jew had in it all 
the germs of the fuller revelation by Christ ; so that the 
true Judaism found its natural culmination in Christian- 
ity. As a fact that old revelation led the true Israel, 
along lines of thought and experience the most natural, 
directly to Christianity. It is likewise a fact that it led 
the most of the Jews to a knowledge of the true doctrine 
concerning God, a knowledge to which the Gentiles did 
not attain, and thus made it unnecessary for the Evangel- 
ist of the Jews to dwell upon these elementary doctrines. 

At the time of the Advent, the masses had departed 
from the pure religion of the Law and the Prophets. 



100 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

The great council, the Sanhedrim, the head of the Jewish 
system, had been brought, in large measure, under the 
influence of the heathen rulers of the nation, and secular- 
ized. There had sprung up a party, the Herodians, doubt- 
less numerous, who had cut loose from Jewish hopes and 
aspirations as well as Jewish worship, and who " saw in 
the power of the Herodian family the pledge of the pres- 
ervation of their national existence in the face of Roman 
ambition," — a party so entirely worldly that a Herod 
could meet all their longings for a deliverer. The remain- 
der of the nation was divided into the two great religious 
sects, — the Pharisees and Sadducees (the Essenes or 
mystics were too few to be of importance), the tradition- 
alists and the skeptics. The former class, embracing by 
far the greater number and reaching down among the 
common people, had added to the teaching of the Script- 
ures a mass of traditions which had completely overlaid 
that teaching, and taken its place, making their religion 
mere form and ceremony, mere theatrical show. The lat- 
ter class, comprising the more scholarly and cultivated of 
the people, had not only discarded all tradition, and re- 
jected every doctrine which was not plainly taught in the 
Scriptures, but had made free with the Scriptures them- 
selves — very much after the st}4e of the modern ration- 
alists — receiving or rejecting as best suited them, and 
giving little or no attention to practical religion. In 
truth practical religion was at the lowest ebb. 

Most of the Jews had lost sight of or perverted those 
great doctrines which are the proper regulators of human 
conduct. Their practical creed ran thus : " Thou shalt 
love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy." " Thou shalt 
not take interest from a Jew, but shalt exact usurious in- 
terest from all Gentiles." " Be scrupulous about outward 
forms, for God looks mainly at these." To each living 
truth they had conjoined the fatal error which destroyed 
it, or else had quite substituted the error for the truth. 



THE JEWISH CHARACTER. 101 

The Evangelist who would reach and save the Jews 
must recognize their possession of God's oracles, and 
must seek to recall these lost principles and to correct the 
perverted ones. He must carry this apostatizing race 
back to the oracles of God. 

The Divine Forms. The Jews had the only divinely 
ordained forms of religious worship. The Mosaic ordi- 
nances embodied the Mosaic truth. The Mosaic ritual 
embodied God's view of the best forms of the divine 
worship in that age of tutelage, when prescribed forms 
seemed necessary to a rude people who were under train- 
ing for a later spiritual age and worship. The Jews 
alone had the true and God-given forms of worship. 

These religious forms were doubtless very helpful to 
the true Israel in keeping the revelations of God before 
their minds, and lifting their thoughts heavenward. 
The ritual undoubtedly served as a perpetual object-les- 
son to the whole nation, keeping some of the main truths 
of Judaism always before them. 

But the mass of the nation, long before the Advent, 
had lost sight of the substance in the form. Their relig- 
ion had become intensely formal, a mere outward show, 
a procedure in which man only acted a part, played the 
hypocrite. The Pharisees could steal the possessions of 
widows and orphans, and then tithe the herbs and weeds 
in their gardens and make long prayers at the corners of 
the broad streets, and think themselves the patterns of 
the world in religion. 

The Evangelist who would reach and save the Jews 
must understand the true import of these divine forms, 
as the changing shadows of an unchanging substance, 
and must aim to correct this awful, and, if uncorrected, 
fatal perversion of the truth. 

The Messianic Promise. Above all, the Jews had 
the promise of the Messiah. 



102 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

Acknowledging the divine authority of the Old Tes- 
tament Scriptures, they read in them of a coming Deliv- 
erer. The promises and prophecies had grown clearer 
all along the centuries. He was to be the seed of the 
woman, the seed of Abraham, a prophet like unto Moses, 
the royal son of David, the child of a virgin. All the 
types found their explanation in him, all the sacrifices 
pointed to him, all prophecy centred in him, all the ex- 
perience and history of Israel shadowed his coming and 
work. In person he was to be God and man, Emmanuel, 
the everlasting Father and the man of sorrows in one. 
Officially he was to be Messiah, or, as the Greek has it, 
Christ, the anointed of God ; and as the anointing of 
the old dispensation was used in inducting into the three 
offices of prophet, king, and priest, he was to be a 
prophet, like the greatest of the prophets, was to be the 
legal heir to the throne of David, and was to bear the 
sins of his people. This great outline was filled in with 
a multitude of details, made up of circumstances and in- 
cidents connected with his birth, his life, and his death, 
and serving to mark his character and his work for the 
world. The Jews had daily access to this prophetic his- 
tory of the Messiah, and were hourly expecting his ad- 
vent when Jesus of Nazareth came and claimed to be 
the fulfillment of prophecy. 

To the true Israel, the Simeons and Annas, the doc- 
trine of the Messiah was the support and solace in the 
trial and sorrow which fell upon the later days of the 
old dispensation and made way for the opening of the 
new. 

But the masses had departed from the correct teaching 
on this subject. They had not read the prophets aright. 
They had started out from the prediction of Christ as 
the son and heir of David, or as king, and had warped 
all their reading and interpretation to agree with their 



THE JEWISH CHARACTER. 103 

worldly notions of what was demanded by that. The 
Roman Empire dazzled them and they could only inter 
pret prophecy in its light. David had conquered and 
imposed tribute on the surrounding nations, had led the 
armies and decided the great civil questions, had made 
Israel one of the powerful kingdoms of the earth. The 
Jew overlooked or explained away everything that did 
not accord with the temporal splendor of a king and 
kingdom after this model. He had cast away that 
grander idea of a spiritual, universal, and everlasting 
kingdom, which fills the books of the Prophets. He had 
lost sight of the part to be played by the prophet and 
priest in the Messianic work and character. His Messiah 
was to be the Jewish Ccesar of the world. 

As the Messianic idea was the one in which all the 
other Jewish ideas of that age centred and culminated, 
the Evangelist who would reach and save the Jewish 
race must, above everything else, keep in view the true 
doctrine on that point, and must, most of all, give him- 
self to correcting the otherwise fatal perversions of the 
truth by the degenerate Jews. 

II. The Key to Matthew's Gospel, 

Such being the character of the Jews, it is easy to see 
how it furnishes the key to the Gospel intended for 
them. 

Clearly it would have been a fatal mistake to set forth 
Jesus of Nazareth — as Mark sets him forth for the Ro- 
man — simply as the Son of God, wielding almighty 
power in establishing a universal empire. It would not 
have commended him to the true Israel who had been 
holding out for ages, with brave heart and boundless en- 
durance, against the material power of all the great 
nations of the world, and who ever bowed to Scriptures 
and prophecy, but never to mere power. It would have 



104 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

had little attraction for the apostate Israel, absorbed in 
their dream of a magnificent world-empire, except as it 
tended to foster their perverse view of the Messiah. 

Equally vain would it have been to bring him forward 
as Luke does — as the divine-man, coming down from 
God out of heaven, passing through a perfect human de- 
velopment, entering into sympathy with all suffering 
and sorrowing humanity — for the Jew was not looking 
for the perfect man, the son of Adam, the son of God, 
but for a son of Abraham, a king descended from David 
by the royal line. 

Still more fruitless would it have been to exhibit him 
as John does, — as the eternal Word, the very God, the 
light and life of the world, — for the veil was before the 
eyes of the Jew, and he could not discern the spiritual 
God as manifested in the Word. The light shone into 
the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. 

For the Jew the credentials of Jesus must be drawn 
from Moses and the Prophets. In his origin, human and 
divine, in the capital facts of his life, in his character pri- 
vate and official, in short, in his work and in his king- 
dom, he must be shown to meet the requirements of the 
Messianic Scriptures. Jesus must be set over against the 
prophetic Messiah, so that they shall both be seen to be 
one and the same. This work properly done, no Jew 
could escape the conclusion : Jesus of Nazareth is the 
Messiah. 

SECTION III. 
THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE FIRST GOSPEL. 

There has been but one prevalent opinion concerning 
the authorship of the first Gospel. It has always been 
ascribed to a Jew, the Apostle Matthew. This author- 
ship is sufficiently established by the witnesses already 
cited. 



THE AUTHORSHIP. 105 

Like most of the Apostles of our Lord, he was a man 
almost without a biography. He takes occasion to men- 
tion but the fewest facts concerning himself : his call to 
become a disciple of Jesus ; the feast which he made for 
his new Master ; and his appointment to the Apostleship. 
The other Evangelists simply corroborate his statement 
of these facts. Tradition, as has been seen, makes some 
additions concerning the origin of the Gospel which 
bears his name, and concerning his later ministry outside 
of Judaea. 

I. A Representative Jew in Nature. 

From these facts and traditions in connection with the 
Gospel itself, the Apostle is seen to have been a repre- 
sentative Jew and eminently fitted by his nature, and by 
his experience, Jewish and Christian, for the work of 
preaching and embodying the Gospel for the Jewish race. 
What is known of his personal history marks him as a 
man appreciating the need for the Gospel most fully him- 
self, and fitted to press it most earnestly upon the accept- 
ance of his countrymen. 

His own account of his call to become a disciple of 
Christ, and of the feast in his house, is as follows : 
" And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, 
named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom ; and 
he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose and fol- 
lowed him. And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat 
in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came 
and sat down with him, and his disciples " (Matt. ix. 
9, 10). Mark, in his account, calls Matthew by his Jew- 
ish name, " Levi, the son of Alpheus," and represents 
the feast as occurring in his house (Mark ii. 14, 15). 
Luke names him Levi, and declares that "he left 
all," that he made Jesus " a great feast in his own 
house," and that there was " a great company of publi- 



106 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

cans and others that sat down with them " (Luke v. 
27-29). 

The account of his appointment to the Apostleship is 
given by himself, by Mark, and by Luke. All the cata- 
logues place him in the fourth couple of the twelve Apos- 
tles along with Thomas ; Mark and Luke place him first, 
" Matthew and Thomas " (Mark iii. 18 ; Luke vi. 15) ; 
but he places himself second, and writes, " Thomas and 
Matthew the publican" (x. 3). 

The business of the tax-gatherer, from which he was 
called, had doubtless trained him to system. The public 
official is obliged to methodize his business, to use titles, 
headings, indices, to put things into such shape that they 
may be easily grasped and understood. Hence his emi- 
nent fitness to present to the Jew the claims of Jesus as 
Messiah, in a clear, systematic, and business-like man- 
ner. 

It is obvious, likewise, that the business of the publi- 
can must have led him to an intimate knowledge of the 
Jewish character, especially of the covetousness and hy- 
pocrisy which were such marked features of it. 

As a publican he was at variance with the Pharisaic 
party, and the Pharisaic disposition among his own peo- 
ple. By the orthodox Jew he must have been looked 
upon as unclean and often treated as an object of con- 
tempt. He may have been freed from the power of 
Pharisaism in either of two ways : by being overcome 
and carried away by the spirit of covetousness and extor- 
tion, which reached their height in the average tax- 
gatherer of the day ; or by attaining to a more liberal 
piety and a more vital comprehension of the Old Testa- 
ment, and so reaching a contempt for the common for- 
mality and hypocrisy which passed for piety. 

It was in the latter way that Zaccheus attained to his 
emancipation from Pharisaism, and it has been suggested 



THE AUTHORSHIP. 107 

that Matthew was a Jew of like spirit, and therefore an 
honest and upright publican. The readiness with which 
he left his vocation and his possessions to follow Jesus, 
and the necessity for some previous spiritual fitness on 
his part, have been urged in favor of this view. 1 

On the other hand, equally strong reasons may be 
brought forward for regarding him as belonging to the 
infamous rather than to the pious publicans. From the 
time of his conversion he seems to have regarded the 
publican on the one side, as he regarded the Pharisee on 
the other, as a representative Jewish sinner, each, in his 
place and way, the wickedest man of his race. It is re- 
markable that lie has not recorded the story of Zaccheus, 
the honest publican, nor the parable of the Pharisee and 
the publican, nor anything else concerning the publicans 
which could raise our estimate of their character as a 
class. It is still more remarkable that he has recorded 
so much that blackens that character, and especially that 
memorable saying of our Lord, " Verily I say unto you, 
that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom 
of God before you" (xxi. 31). While he joins with the 
other Evangelists in connecting the publicans and sin- 
ners, he alone, in this passage, conjoins publicans and 
harlots. 

II. A Representative Jew in Experience. 

There is also enough in these facts, in connection with 
his Gospel, to show that Matthew's experience of the 
saving power of the Gospel was that of a representative 
Jew. 

He arose and left all and followed Jesus. These 

words of Luke indicate, perhaps, that he had grown rich 

or was growing rich in the calling of the publican. He 

left behind him forever the gain and the means of gain, 

1 See Lange, Life of Jesus, vol. i. 



108 MATTHEW THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

so dear to the man who is a Jew by nature, to follow him 
who had not where to lay his head. It was a complete 
revolution of character and life. 

But if Matthew was one of the outcast publicans, 
justly regarded as infamous, then his conversion into an 
Apostle of the Lord, in whom he recognized the true and 
eternal king of Israel, must have been indelibly im- 
pressed upon his mind as a miracle of divine grace. He 
was despised in the eyes of the false theocrats of Israel, 
and the true Theocrat thus highly exalted him. He 
must have learned to feel the contrast between the true 
and the spurious kingdom of God in all their respective 
aspects. But even without taking into account the un- 
reasonable contempt of the Pharisees, it is still manifest 
that his former doubtful calling, when compared with his 
present exalted vocation, his former associates, who con- 
sisted partly of the most degraded of men, when con- 
trasted with the consecrated circle in which he now lived, 
and, finally, his former, when compared with his present, 
state of mind, must all have appeared to him in their 
darkest colors. He was translated from a condition of 
the deepest shame to one of the highest honor, from a 
most critical to a most advantageous position. Hence it 
would accord with such a state of things, that a strong 
feeling for contrasts should have been found in him," x 
along with a profound appreciation of all the various 
aspects of life. 

His many years of preaching the Gospel to his coun- 
trymen compelled him to study most diligently the great 
facts concerning the person and work of Jesus, and to 
throw them into the form best suited to commend him as 
Messiah to the Jews. 

Recurring to the peculiar characteristics of the Jew, 
as already given, it will be seen that Matthew had meas- 
1 See Lange, Life of Jesus, vol. i. 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 109 

ured the whole range of the Jewish character and expe- 
rience. He was one of the chosen people, and under- 
stood their arrogant, self-righteous claims to the peculiar 
favor of God and to exclusive right to the world. He 
was familiar with the oracles of God and with their per- 
versions. He had perfect acquaintance with the forms of 
the true religion, and with the formality and hypocrisy 
that had arisen out of them. He had been taught the 
true doctrine of Messiah and all the departures from it. 
All this is manifest throughout his Gospel. 

Take him all in all, there was no man among the Apos- 
tles so fitted as Matthew to embody the Gospel in per- 
manent form for the Jew. The impulse which led his 
countrymen to ask him to make a record of that Gospel 
for them, and that which led him to accede to their re- 
quest, were doubtless both from the Holy Ghost, the 
Spirit of all wisdom. Doubtless, out of all the men of 
that age, the Holy Ghost chose the man best fitted, by 
his nature and experience as a representative Jew, to 
write the Gospel for the Jew. 



CHAPTER II. 

CRITICAL VIEW OF THE JEWISH ADAPTATION OF THE 
FIRST GOSPEL. 

In examining the first Gospel in the light of its Jewish 
origin, design, and authorship, its very marked adaptation 
to the needs of the Jew of that age will become apparent 
as we consider the plan of the Evangelist, the central idea 
and general drift of his production, the characteristic 
omissions and additions, and the incidental variations and 
peculiarities. 



110 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 



SECTION I. 

THE JEWISH ADAPTATION IN THE GENERAL PLAN OF 
THE FIRST GOSPEL. 

It may seem strange, and requiring explanation, that at 
this late day inquiry should need to be made in order to 
ascertain the plan of the Gospels. Have we not the di- 
visions of Matthew and its plan given in the twenty- 
eight chapters of the Gospel ? Is not the same thing 
true of the sixteen chapters of Mark ; of the twenty-four 
of Luke ; of the twenty-one of John ? Why, then, look 
any farther ? 

I. The Plan of the Gospels. 

Even a partial investigation of the facts will convince 
any one that the outward history of the Bible is one con- 
tinued record of marvels. Sometimes an accident, often 
a trifle, has, in the ordainings of Providence and through 
cooperation with some prevailing tendency of human 
thought or drift of human events, decided the way in 
which the great mass of men should regard the Word of 
God for centuries to come. 

The mechanical division of its separate books into 
chapters and verses may be looked upon as one of these 
apparently trifling incidents, which has nevertheless ex- 
erted a vast influence upon the views taken of the con- 
nections of the Scriptures, from the time when the printed 
Bible first began to find a place in the Christian home 
until the present day. The work was done in a way, and 
at a time, to give it the greatest possible influence in 
hiding the structural harmony and unity of the Sacred 
Word. Prepared by a purely mechanical process, — as 
one would be led to conclude, without even the trouble 
of an examination, by the fact that Robert Stephens 



THE GENERAL PLAN. Ill 

completed the division of the New Testament into verses 
during a journey on horseback from Paris to Lyons, in 
the troublous times of the middle of the sixteenth cent- 
ury ; given to the Church ten years before the birth of 
Lord Bacon, while the mechanical philosophy still held 
undisputed sway in the world of thought ; it was exactly 
fitted to meet the intellectual wants of the times. Com- 
mending itself as a convenient arrangement, in favor of 
which much may yet be said ; completed in time to be 
attached to even the earlier English editions of the Bible 
(the earliest had been issued only sixteen years before, 
and King James's version was not issued till sixty years 
after), it was equally fitted to take advantage of the 
drift of events in extending and perpetuating its influence 
among the English-speaking peoples. 

It does not fall within the scope of the present discus- 
sion to inquire, what may have been the design of God 
in ordering such a thing at such a time. One result of 
it has undoubtedly been to turn the attention to the great 
doctrines that everywhere lie upon the very surface of 
the Scriptures, and to reserve the development of the 
argument for the rhetorical unity of the various books 
of the Bible until this age, when the attack comes from 
that side. On the other hand, it can scarcely be denied 
that its tendency has been to lead the multitudes to 
read the Word of God very much as if made up of de- 
tached portions, having little or no logical or rhetori- 
cal connection with one another, and each composed of 
ten or twenty words, more or less ; and to lead the popu- 
lar expounders of the Scriptures to construct their com- 
mentaries very much in accordance with this view. 

Perhaps the influence of this mechanical chopping up 
of the Scriptures, in preventing the recognition of a beau- 
tiful structural harmony, and in concealing most obvious 
and characteristic differences in aim and plan, has been 



112 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

nowhere more positive than in that portion so much read 
and commented upon — the Gospels. The common theory 
among the masses seems to accept the productions of the 
Evangelists as so many lives of Christ, more or less com- 
plete, but it assigns no peculiar sphere and attributes no 
special design to any one of them. It recognizes no ex- 
isting reason why there should be more than one Gospel, 
or, since there are more than one, why there should not 
be three or five instead of four. 

It follows naturally from this failure to recognize a 
specific aim in each Gospel, that the masses come to look 
upon them all as being without coherent plan or inherent 
harmony of structure. Nor could one even remotely in- 
fer from most of the works professing to expound them 
for the masses, that Matthew or Mark or Luke or John, 
whether consciously or unconsciously, each gave to the 
world a book with a definite plan, possessed of a harmony 
and unity entirely different from that which Cardinal 
Hugo and Robert Stephens together discovered so long 
ago, when the former divided the New Testament into 
chapters and the latter into verses. 

These considerations will fairly justify the present in- 
quiry after the plan of the Gospels. 

II. The Plan of Matthew's Gospel. 

It may be seen, in the light of a careful study of its 
origin, aim, and matter, that the Gospel according to 
Matthew is naturally divided into five parts, or, rather, 
into three principal parts, — presenting the successive 
stages of the work of Jesus as the Messiah in establishing 
the kingdom of heaven, — with an appropriate introduc- 
tion and conclusion. 

In these divisions the character and career of Jesus 
are unfolded in their connection with the appropriate 
Old Testament exhibitions of the Messiah. The historic 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 113 

personage is thus seen side by side with the prophetic 
ideal, and the exact correspondence of the two is made 
apparent. 

It may not be wholly unnecessary to remark that an 
outline view is given first, in order that, by getting the 
contents of the Gospel fully and clearly before the mind, 
the way may be prepared for a better understanding of 
the more specific and interesting views that are to follow. 

For the assistance of any who may desire to make a 
fuller comparative study of the characters of " Jesus " 
and " Messiah," the Messianic teachings of the Old Tes- 
tament have been connected with the outline view given 
of Matthew's Gospel. 

OUTLINE OF THE FIRST GOSPEL. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The Advent of the Messiah. Matthew demonstrates 
by way of introduction, that Jesus had the origin and of- 
ficial preparation of the Messiah of the Prophets, i. 1- 
iv. 11. 

Section 1. Jesus had the origin of the Messiah, i. 1- 
ii. 23. 

A. In his royal and covenant descent from David and 
Abraham, i. 1-17. 

Prophetic References. For the prophecies suggested to the Jew by verse 
1, see Ps. lxxxix. 35, 36 , cxxxii. 11 ; Isa. ix. 6, 7 ; xi. 1 ; Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. 
For the scriptural basis of the argument of the genealogy, see the gen- 
ealogies in Gen. xlvi. ; Ruth iv. ; 1 Chron. iii. 

B. In his divine origin and human birth, as Imman- 
uel, — begotten by the Holy Ghost and born of the Vir- 
gin Mary. i. 18-25. 

Proph. Refs. For the prophecy fulfilled in this passage, and formally 
referred to in verses 22, 23, see Isa. vii. 14. For the prophecy that ho 
shall save his people from their sins, and for the scriptural data for de- 
ciding that this was the precise time for the appearing of the Messiah, see 
Dan. ix. 24-26. 



114 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

C. In the place of his birth, — not Nazareth, as the 
Jews supposed, but Bethlehem ; in the circumstances of 
his early life in connection with the two places ; and in 
the place of his residence and development, the secluded 
Nazareth, ii. 1-23. 

Proph. Refs. For the prophecy of the star, ch. ii. 2, see Num. xxiv. 17. 
For. the coming of the Gentiles, fulfilled in the Magi, verse 1, see Isa. xi. 
10; xlii. 1 ; lx. 3. With the decree of the Sanhedrim, verse 6, compare 
Mic. v. 2. With the flight into Egypt, verses 13-15, compare Hos. xi. L. 
With the murder of the innocents, verses 16-18, compare Jer. xxxi. 15. 
With the settlement and residence in Nazareth, verse 23, compare Ps. xxii. 
6 ; lxix. 7, 12 ; Isa. xlix. 7 ; liii. 2, 3, etc. ; and John i. 46. 

Section 2. Jesus received the preparation and inaug- 
uration of the Messiah, iii. 1-iv. 11. 

A. In the preparation of the Jews, by a forerunner, 
for his public appearance and ministry, iii. 1-12. 

Proph. Refs. For the prophecy of the forerunner, referred to in verse 
3, see Isa. xl. 3. For the garb of the forerunner, verse 4, see 2 Kings i. 8. 
For the prophetic character of Messiah, verses 10-12, see Isa. iv. 4; xli. 8- 
16 ; Mai. iii. 1-3. 

B. In his external and public consecration for his work, 
in the baptism by John and in the recognition and anoint- 
ing from heaven, iii. 13-17. 

Proph. Refs. For the prophecy of the Messiah's subjection to the law of 
righteousness, verse 15, see Ps. xl. 6-10; Jer. xxiii. 6. For the promise 
of anointing by the Holy Spirit, verse 16, see Isa. xlii. 1 ;lxi. 1. For the 
prophetic recognition as the Son of God, verse 17, see Ps. ii. 7. 

C. In his internal and private girding for the Mes- 
siah's work and his actual commencement of that work, 
as man for man, in his first bruising of the serpent's 
head, in the temptation, iv. 1-11. 

Proph. Refs. Compare with this passage the Protevangelium, or first 
Gospel revelation, Gen. iii. 15. Also the promised obedience of the Messiah 
to the law of God for man, Ps. xl. 7, with the fulfillment in this passage, 
in verses 3, 4, of the law of self-renunciation, Deut. viii. 3 ; in verses 5-7, of 
the law of trust in God, Ps. xci. 11, 12, and Deut. vi. 16 ; in verses 8-10, of 
the law of worship, Deut. vi. 13. Compare the experience of verse 11 with 
the promise of divine protection to Messiah, Ps. xci. 11, 12. 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 115 

PART I. 

The Public Proclamation of Messiah's Kingdom. 
Matthew demonstrates that Jesus did the public work 
and bore the public character of Messiah, the King and 
Prophet, in the period devoted chiefly to the proclama- 
tion of the coming Kingdom of Heaven, with divine 
power, in Galilee, iv. 12-xvi. 12. 

Section 1. Jesus did this in his personal proclamation, 
unfolding the law and relations of his Kingdom, and 
demonstrating his own divine authority, iv. 12-ix. 35. 

A. In his early and preliminary work, — in the place, 
message, and results, iv. 12-25. 

Proph. Refs. For the prophecy of the place of beginning his mission, 
verses 12-17, see Isa. ix. 1, 2. With verses 18-22, compare the vision 
of holy waters, Ezek. xlvii. 9, 10. With verses 23-25, compare Isa. lxi. 
1-3, etc. 

B. In his proclamation of the Law of the Kingdom, — 
in its spirituality, as contrasted with Jewish views, — in 
the Sermon on the Mount, v. 1-vii. 29. 

The Lawgiver presents the Constitution of the King- 
dom of Heaven by exhibiting, — 

a. The Citizens of the Kingdom, v. 3-16. 

(a.) In their blessed character and experience. 3-12. 
(b.) In their salutary influence upon the world. 13-16. 

Proph. Refs. For the character of Messiah as King, Prophet, and Law- 
giver, compare the promise to Judah, Gen. xlix. 10; and of a prophet like 
unto Moses, Deut. xviii. 15. Also such passages as Isa. ii. 2-4 ; ix. 6, 7 ; 
Mic. iv. 1-3, etc. For the prophetic basis for the spiritual character of 
the subjects of the kingdom, see the predictions and partial descriptions 
in Ps. lxxii. ; Isa. Ix. ; Jer. xxx. and xxxi. ; Ezek. xxxiv. 22-31 ; Dan. ii. 
34, 44, etc. For the world-wide influence as the salt, compare Isa. Ix. 
21-22; Prov. x. 11; xi. 30; xii. 12, etc. For the light, compare Prov. 
iv. IS ; Ps. xxxvii. 6 ; cxix. 105, 130 ; Isa. ix. 2 ; lx- 1-20, etc. 

b. The teachings of the Kingdom, in its relations to 
Jewish Law* and Life. v. 17-vii. 6. 

(a.) To the old Jewish law : first, as revealed in the 



116 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

Old Testament Scriptures (v. 17-19) ; secondly, as re- 
vealed in the doctrine of the Scribes and Pharisees, as 
given by the literal interpreter (v. 21-32), and by the 
liberal interpreter (v. 33-48). 

(b.) To the Jewish life, as seen in the pattern saints 
of the day : first, in the religious life (vi. 1-18) ; secondly, 
in the worldly life (vi. 19-34) ; thirdly, in the conversa- 
tion (vii. 1-6). 

Proph. Refs. With the teaching of the Lawgiver concerning the mis- 
sion of Messiah and the higher righteousness demanded in the kingdom of 
heaven, compare such prophecies as Isa. xxviii. 16-18; Dan. ix. 24, etc. 
With the condemnation of the literalist and theliberalist, compare the Law 
as given in Ex. xx; Isa. v. 18-25; Jer. xiv. 13-16; xxiii. 38-40, etc. 
With the contrast with the Pharisee righteousness, compare Ps. li. 16, 17 ; 
Isa. Ivii. 15 ; lxvii. 1-4; Jer. vii. 1-28, etc. With the life of trust, as op- 
posed to the Pharisee worldliness, compare Ps. xxxiv. 10 ; xxxvii. 3 ; xxiii.; 
and the various enactments requiring the Jews to hold and use their wealth 
as stewards of Jehovah. 

c. The practical Way into the Kingdom, vii. 7-27. 
(a.) The positive directions. Verses 7-14. 
(b.) The warning against the two chief dangers. 
Verses 15-23. 

(c.) The final urgent exhortation. Verses 24-27. 

Proph. Refs. For teachings concerning the way of life, compare Ps. 
xxiv. 3-5; Prov. viii. 17; Isa. xlv. 19; lii. 13-15; liii. 1-12; Jer. xxix. 
10-14, etc. For the fate of the rejecters of God, compare Ps. i. 4-6 ; Dan. 
xii. 2, etc. 

C. In his establishment of his divine authority to set 
up such a Kingdom and proclaim its Law, — as shown by 
three series of miracles brought together and arranged for 
the purpose, viii. 1-ix. 35. 

a. First series, exhibiting Jesus as the Messiah, in 
his relation to the Old Testament Law. viii. 1-18. 

Proph. Refs. For special prophecy fulfilled, compare verse 17 with Isa. 
liii. 4. 

b. Second series, exhibiting Jesus, the Messiah, as in 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 117 

himself all-powerful, and as claiming absolute authority, 
viii. 18-ix. 8. 

Proph. Refs. With "son of man," ch. viii. 18, compare Dan. vii. 13. 
"With " Son of God," ch. viii., compare Ps. ii. 7. With the absolute 
divine authority, ch. ix. 2, compare the authority attributed to Messiah 
in Ps. ii ; Ps. ex. ; and throughout the Messianic prophecies, especially 
in Isa. ix. 6, 7. 

c. Third series, exhibiting Jesus, the gracious Mes- 
siah, in his relations to lost men, — showing active mercy 
and requiring active faith, ix. 9-35. 

Proph. Reft. With his character as Saviour of sinners, ch. ix. 10-13, 
compare Hos. vi. 6 ; Jer. xxxi. 33, 34 ; Isa. Hi. 53, etc. With his charac- 
ter as the Healer and Lord of life, ch. ix. 22, 25, 30, 35, compare Isa. liii. 
4 ; ix. 2, etc. With Jesus as the conqueror of the demons and their prince, 
verse 33, compare Gen. iii. 15. 

Section 2. Jesus also did the public work, and bore 
the public character of the Messiah, in his labors, as 
associated with the Twelve Apostles, in the wider proc- 
lamation of the coming Kingdom in Galilee, ix. 36-xvi. 
12. 

A. In the choice, preliminary instruction, and mission 
of the Twelve, ix. 36— x. 42» This embraces : — 

a. The occasion of the call and mission, — the spirit- 
ual destitution of Israel, — the general commission, and 
the catalogue of the Twelve, ix. 36-x. 4. 

Proph. Refs. For the prophetic view of the condition of Israel and 
the work of Messiah, the compassionate Shepherd for the lost sheep, espe- 
cially as seen in ch. ix. 36-38, and ch. x. 1, 6-9, compare Isa. liii. 6 ; Jer. 
1. 6 ; Ezek. xxxiv., etc. 

b. The charge to the Twelve, or the law of associated 
effort in the Kingdom, and their exclusive mission to 
Israel, x. 5-42. Their instructions cover : — 

(a.) Their work in preparation for the Kingdom, in 
heralding the coming of Jesus to the various cities of 
Israel. Verses 6-15. 

(b.) Their work in the established Kingdom, or from 



118 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

Pentecost on : first, to the destruction of Jerusalem, 
verses 16-28 ; and, secondly, to the end of time, verses 
24-42. 

Proph. Befs. For general character of Messiah's work, verses 6-9, com- 
pare Isa. liii. 6, etc., as just given. For the enmity shown to Messiah and 
his followers, compare the bruising of his heel by Satan, foretold in the 
Protevangelium ; Gen. iii. 15 ; Ps. ii. 1-3 ; Isa. liii. 2, 3, etc. For the 
social estrangement resulting, verses 34-39, compare Mic. vii. 6 ; Exod. 
xxxii. 26-29. 

B. In the awakening of doubt of his Messiahship, and 
consequent opposition, by the fuller revelation of the ex- 
clusively spiritual character of his Kingdom, xi. 1-xii. 
50. 

The antagonism as presented by Matthew, includes : — 

a. The apparent expression, on the part of John the 
Baptist and his followers, of doubt of the Messiahship 
of Jesus, — giving Jesus occasion to present his cre- 
dentials as the Messiah ; to vindicate the faith and di- 
vine mission of his forerunner ; to judge that childish 
generation, and the cities in which his mighty works had 
been done ; to claim the divine authority and extend the 
gracious invitation of Messiah, xi. 1-30. 

Proph. Refs. Compare verse 5 with Isa. liii. 4 ; xxxv. 5-10; viii. 14, 15. 
Compare verses 20-24 with Isa. i., etc. Compare the gracious invitation, 
verses 28-30, with Isa. xlv. 22 ; lv. 1-3, etc. 

b. The appearance of open opposition, xii. 1-45. 
(a.) Unorganized, on the part of the leaders of Israel, 

for a righteous and merciful act. Verses 1-13. 

(b.) Organized, by the Pharisees and Scribes, result- 
ing in the withdrawal and quiet work of Jesus. Verses 
14-45. 

c. The interference of his relatives, whose claims he 
rejects for higher, xii. 46-50. 

Proph. Refs. Compare the acts which awaken the opposition, ch. xii. 
1, 9-13, with 1 Sam. xxi. 3-6; Ex. xxix. 32, 33; Lev. viii. 31 ; xxiv. 9; 
Num. xxviii. 9, 10; Hos. vi. 6. See, also, Ex. xxiii. 4, 5; Deut. xxii. 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 119 

4. For the quiet withdrawal and beneficent work, verses 15-21, see Isa. 
xlii. 1-4. 

C. In his consequent substitution of parabolic for plain 
teaching, in presenting the mystery of the opposition to 
the Kingdom of Heaven, xiii. 1-53. 

The parables of the Kingdom include : — 

a. Four parables to the people, with explanations to 
the disciples. 

b. Three parables to the disciples alone. 

Proph. Refs. For the Messianic prophecy fulfilled in this phase of 
the work of Jesus, compare verses 10-16 with Isa. v. 4-7; vi. 9, 10; 
Ezek. xii. 2. 

D. In the culmination of the opposition in his rejec- 
tion by the representatives of all the leading classes, 
xiii. 54-xvi. 12. The exhibition of this rejection in- 
cludes : — 

a. His rejection by the synagogue of Nazareth, on 
account of his obscure origin, — resulting in the with- 
drawal of his works of power, xiii. 54-58. 

Proph. Kef*. For the obscurity of Messiah, compare Ps. xxii. 6 ; lxix. 
7, 12 ; Is. xlix. 7 ; liii., etc. 

6. His rejection as the heavenly King by Herod the 
earthly king, — resulting in his withdrawal, and fur- 
nishing the credentials of the Messiah, in his character 
and works, xiv. 1-36. 

Proph. Rffs. For proof that Jesus, in contrast with Herod, appears in 
the true character of Messiah, compare Isa. vii. 14-25; ix. 1-3; xi. 1-5; 
Mic. v. 1-5; Jer. xxiii. 1-6. 

c. His rejection by the Jerusalem Scribes and Phar- 
isees, the theological authorities and models, — resulting 
in his exposing their hypocrisy and wickedness ; and his 
withdrawal into the Gentile world, where he furnishes 
anew the credentials of the Messiah, the deliverer of the 
world, xv. 1-39. 

Proph. Refs. With the rejection, verses 7-9, compare Isa. xxix. 13. 
With his work iu his retirement, verses 21—39, compare the prophecies 



120 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

of blessing to the Gentiles through Messiah, in Gen. xii. 3; Isa. xi. 10; xlii. 
6, etc. 

d. His rejection by the Galilee Pharisees and Sad- 
ducees, — the true Head of the Theocracy by the earthly 
heads, — resulting in withdrawal, and his condemnation 
of them. xvi. 1-12. 

Proph. Refs. On the rejection compare with the same Scriptures as in 
the rejection by the Scribes and Pharisees. 

PART II. 

The Distinct and Public Claim of Messiahship. 
Matthew shows that, after the rejection and the retire- 
ment from the public ministry in Galilee, Jesus openly 
claimed to be the Messiah, and abundantly proved the 
righteousness of his claim both to his disciples and to the 
people, xvi. 13-xxiii. 39. 

Section 1. Jesus did this with, the Twelve, while cor- 
recting their false Jewish views of his priestly character 
and of his kingdom, xvi. 13-xx. 28. 

A. In calling forth their explicit confession of his 

Messiahship and giving them authority in the kingdom 

of heaven (the Church), — thus preparing them for the 

lesson of the suffering and conquering Messiah, xvi. 

13-20. 

Proph. Refs. For prophecies of the authority here claimed, see Ps. ii. 
6 ; xlv. 6, 7 ; lxxii. 8-11 ; Isa. ix. ; Mic. v. 1-5 ; Dan. ii. 44, etc. 

B. In teaching in its first form, the lesson of his sac- 
rificial death at the hands of the Jewish Sanhedrim, and 
of his resurrection, — and then confirming their faith 
anew. xvi. 21-xvii. 21. This includes : — 

a. The announcement of the death and its unwilling 
reception, xvi. 21-28. 

b. The twofold confirmation of their faith, in the 
transfiguration and in the healing of the epileptic demo- 
niac, xvii. 1-21. 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 121 

Propk. Refs. For the doctrine of the suffering Messiah, compare all 
the sacrificial system of the Old Testament ; and such passages as Isa. liii. 
4-10; Dan. ix. 26, etc. For the rejection by Israel, see Isa. xlix. 7, etc. 
For the doctrine of the resurrection, see Ps. xvi. 10. 

C. In teaching, in its second form, the lesson of his 
death, — through betrayal by his own followers, — and 
then unfolding the true spiritual relations of his followers 
in his kingdom, xvii. 22-xx. 16. This comprehends the 
unfolding of, — 

a. The church relations and duties, — comprising the 
relation to the old religion and to worldly supremacy, and 
the law of church censure and of brotherly forgiveness, 
xvii. 24-xviii. 35. 

b. The earthly relations and duties, — comprising 
those arising out of the family and earthly riches in their 
subordination to the heavenly mission, xix. 1-xx. 16. 

Proph. Refs. For prophecy of the betrayal of Messiah by his own 
friends, compare Ps. xli. 9, with John xiii. 18. See also Ps. lv. 12-14, 
etc. For the unworldly character of the kingdom of Messiah, compare 
references under ch. v. 3-16. 

D. In teaching, in its third form, the lesson of his 
death, — as a ransom for many, at the hands of the 
Roman riders, — and then checking the rising spirit of 
worldly ambition, xx. 17-28. 

Proph. Refs. For prophecies of the combination of many classes against 
Messiah, see Ps. xxii., etc. For the special rage of the Gentiles, or heathen, 
see Ps. ii. 1, in connection with Acts iv. 25. For the doctrine of the ran- 
som, compare Ex. xxi. 30 ; Prov. xiii. 8 ; Isa. liii. 5. 

Section 2. Jesus made this public claim before the 
people also, at Jerusalem, the city of the great King, — 
correcting the false Jewish notions and establishing his 
Messiahship by miracles performed in the Temple itself, 
xx. 29-xxiii. 39. This includes : — 

A. The public claim to be the son of David, in Jeri- 
cho ; the triumphal entry into the city of David ; the 



122 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

assumption of Messianic authority and performance of 
Messianic works in the Temple, xx. 29-xxi. 17. 

Proph. Refs. With the healing of the blind men, ch. xx. 34, compare 
Isa. xxxv. 5-10. With the triumphal entry, compare Zech. ix. 9; Ps. 
cxviii. 24-26. With the cleansing of the temple, Isa. lvi. 7 ; Jer. vii. 11. 
With the miraculous credentials of Messiah, ch. xxi. 14 ; Isa. xxxv. 5-10. 
With the praises of the children, Ps. viii. 2. 

B. The public conflict, defensive and offensive, as Mes- 
siah, with the hardened Jewish officials, xxi. 18-xxiii. 
39. This comprises : — 

a. The introductory sign of the nation's fate, in the 
cursing of the barren fig-tree. xxi. 18-22. 

Proph- Refs. Compare the symbolic curse with that of Israel in Isa. 
v. 4-10. 

b. The public conflict with the Sanhedrim, defensive 
and offensive, ending in their discomfiture and condem- 
nation, xxi. 23-xxii. 14. 

Proph. Refs. For the prophecy of the rejection of Messiah, compare ch. 
xxi. 42-44, with Ps. cxviii. 22, 23 ; also with such passages as Ps. ii. 9 ; 
xxi. 8, 9 ; Isa. Ix. 12 ; Dan. ii. 34, 35, 44, 45. For the foreshadowed re- 
jection of the nation, ch. xxii. 7-14, compare Dan. ix. 26; Zech. xiv. 1, 2. 

c. The public conflict, defensive and offensive, with the 
leading classes of the nation, as tools of the Sanhedrim, 
ending in the judgment and casting off of themselves 
and the nation, xxii. 15-xxiii. 39. 

Pro))h. Refs. With the argument against the Sadducees, compare Dent. 
xxv. 5 ; Exod. iii. 6 ; with that against the lawyer, Deut. vi. 5 ; Lev. xix. 
18 ; with the discomfiture of the Pharisees, Ps. ex. 1. With the defining 
of the position of the Scribes and Pharisees, compare Neh. viii. 4-8 ; with 
the curse, Mai. ii. 7-9 ; with the judgment denounced upon Jerusalem, 
Jer. xxii. 5 ; Hos. iii. 4, 5. 

PART III. 

The Sacrifice of Messiah the Priest. Matthew dem- 
onstrates that, after his public rejection by the Jews, 
Jesus fully established his claim to be the Messiah, by 
fulfilling the Messianic types and prophecies in laying the 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 123 

foundation for the Kingdom of Heaven by his own 
priestly sacrifice, xxiv. 1-xxvii. 6Q. 

Section 1. He represents Jesus as beginning his work, 
as the rejected and suffering Messiah, bj preparing his 
disciples for his sacrificial death, xxiv. 1-xxv. 46. 

A. In unfolding the true doctrine of his coming in 
glory, and of the end of the existing order of things, 
xxiv. 1-43. 

Proph. Refs. For the fact of a coming judgment, compare ch. xxiv. 2, 
with 1 Kings ix. 7-9; Jer. xxvi. 18; Mic. iii. 12. For the time, compare 
ch. xxiv. 15, with Dan. ix. 27 ; xi. 31; xii. 11. For the suddenness of 
Messiah's coming, compare ch. xxiv. 27, with Zech. ix. 14. For the great 
events attending, compare ch. xxiv. 29-31, with Isa. xiii. 9, 10; Joel ii. 
10, 30, 31 ; Amos v. 20 ; viii. 9; Dan. vii. 13, 14; Zech. xii. 10-12. 

B. In teaching them the true posture of his followers 
in waiting for his coming, and in describing that coming 
in glory to the judgment of the world, xxiv. 44-xxv. 46. 

Proph. Refs. For the terribleness of the final coming to judgment, ch. 
xxv. 31-46, compare Ps. i. 5 ; Isa. xxiv. 21-23 ; Dan. xii. 1, 2, etc. 

Section 2. Matthew represents Jesus as consummat- 
ing his work, as the rejected and suffering Messiah, by 
his priestly offering up of himself as the fulfillment of 
the Law and the Prophets, xxvi. 1-xxxvii. 66. 

A. In preparing for the sacrifice and in putting himself 
in the place of the Paschal lamb ; and in overcoming the 
terrors of death, xxvi. 1-46. 

Proph. Refs. With the conspiracy of the rulers, ch. xxvi. 3, compare 
Ps. ii. With the price of betrayal, verses 14, 15, compare Ex. xxi. 32; 
Zech. xi. 12, 13. With the pointing out of the traitor, verses 20-23, com- 
pare Ps. xii. 9. With the predicted death as Messiah, verse 24, compare 
Gen. iii. 15; Ps. xxii. ; Isa. liii. ; Dan. ix. 26. With the assumption of 
the place of the lamb in the Passover, verses 26-29, compare Ex. xii. 21-29, 
etc. With the predicted forsaking by the disciples, verses 30-32, compare 
Zech. xiii. 7. With the experience in Gethsemane, verses 36-46, compare 
Ps. lxix. 20 ; Isa. liii. 3, 4 ; Lam. i. 12, etc. 

B. In his betrayal by Judas, and in his trial and con- 
demnation before the Sanhedrim and before Pilate, — or 



124 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

as the Messianic Priest in the power of his enemies, 
xxvi. 47-xxvii. 26. 

Proph. Refs. For prophecies of the betrayal, with ch. xxvi. 47-50, com- 
pare Isa. xlix. 7 ; Ps. xli. 9, etc. With the unresisting surrender, verses 
51-54, compare Isa. liii. 7, etc. For the general prophecy fulfilled, verse 
56, see Isa. liii. ; Dan. ix. 26, etc. With the bringing of false -witnesses, 
ch. xxvi. 59-61, compare Ps. xxvii. 12; xxxv. 11. "With the silence of 
Jesus, verses 62, 63, Isa. liii. 7 ; with the oath to the high priest, and the 
predicted coming, verses 63, 64, Dan. vii. 13, 14; with the abuse, verses 
67, 68, Isa. 1. 6 ; with the remorse and death of Judas, ch. xxvii. 3-10, 
Zech. xi. 13. With the experience before Pilate, ch. xxvii. 11-26, com- 
pare Isa. liii. 7, 9, 11, etc. 

C. In his experience in the hands of his executioners, 
as the Messiah sacrificed for sin, — mocked, crucified, 
dead, and buried, xxvii. 27-66. 

Proph. Refs. "With the experience in the hands of his executioners, 
compare Isa. liii. ; Ps. xxii. ; Dan. xii. 2, etc. 

CONCLUSION. 

The Triumph of Messiah the Saviour and King. 
Matthew shows in conclusion that Jesus, after his death, 
fully established his claim to the Messiahship, as the 
risen Lord and Redeemer, xxviii. 1-20. 

Section 1. By his rising from the dead on the third 
day, and furnishing abundant evidence, private and offi- 
cial, of his resurrection, xxviii. 1-15. 

Proph. Refs. With the resurrection, verses 1-4, compare Ps. xvi. 8-11 ; 
Dan. x. 6 ; and Christ's own predictions. 

Section 2. By his formal assumption of Messianic au- 
thority, and by sending forth his disciples to the spiritual 
conquest of the world, xxviii. 16-20. 

Proph. Refs. With the assumption of Messianic authority, compare 
Ps. ii. 6-9 ; xxii. 27, 28; xlv. 6, 7 ; lxxii. ; ex.; Isa. ix. 6, 7 ; xi. 1-10; 
Dan. ii. 44, 45 ; vii. 27, etc. 



THE CENTRAL IDEA. 125 



SECTION n. 

THE JEWISH ADAPTATION IN THE CENTRAL IDEA OF 
THE FIRST GOSPEL. 

The outline, as already given, is its own witness that 
the first Gospel was prepared by Matthew for the Jew. 
It also opens the way for showing how the central idea 
and general drift of the Gospel confirm the historical tes- 
timony touching the Jewish aim of the Evangelist. 

I. The Central Idea. 

A single glance makes it clear that Matthew seizes 
upon the one idea of the Jewish system which was most 
prominent in the Jewish mind of that age. He gives us 
the Gospel of Jesus, the Messiah of the Prophets. 

The Messiah. His one subject, always and every- 
where, is, Jesus is the Messiah. He opens with the 
origin of Jesus, the Messiah, and closes with his assump- 
tion of the universal authority of the Messiah, and from 
the beginning to the close never for a moment parts com- 
pany with the Messianic idea. 

It is patent to the reader that the first Gospel is that 
of the Messianic royalty of Jesus. It seizes upon the 
regal idea, as the one uppermost in the mind of the race, 
and takes advantage of it to open the way for the pres- 
entation of Jesus, under the most favorable aspect, to 
the Jewish soul. Its opening genealogy is that of Jesus, 
the Messiah, the Son of David (i. 1). He is the de- 
scendant of Joseph, the son and heir of David (i. 20). 
The Magi inquire, " Where is he that is born King of 
the Jews ? " (ii. 2). John the Baptist announces him as 
the founder of the kingdom of heaven (iii. 2). Jesus 
himself begins and continues with the proclamation of 
the kingdom of heaven (iv. IT ; v. 3, etc.). Jesus is the 
Messiah, the King, throughout the Gospel. 



126 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

But the Evangelist takes special pains, as will subse- 
quently appear more fully, to correct the false Jewish 
notions, at that day so prevalent, concerning the king- 
dom of Messiah, and to bring into their true place and 
rightful prominence the more important elements of his 
prophetic and priestly character, which had been so gen- 
erally lost out of view. He accordingly exhibits the 
kingdom not as a temporal one, like the Roman Empire, 
but as theocratic, or as a spiritual reign of God himself, 
in the person of Messiah, in the hearts of men (v. 3-12 ; 
xii. 1-52, etc.). The prophetic glory of the Messiah is 
seen, as Jesus speaks for God the grand truths of this 
spiritual kingdom, in the Sermon on the Mount, in the 
parables, and in the other chief discourses, and as he fore- 
tells the events of the future, in the prophecies of his 
own death and in the revelation of the last things (ch. 
xxiv.). The priestly character of the Messiah is given 
its true prominence by various teachings throughout the 
Gospel, but especially by the three remarkable prophe- 
cies of his death, uttered during the period given to the 
instruction of his disciples in the much needed lesson of 
his sufferings and sacrifice (xvi. 21 ; xvii. 22, 23 ; xx. 
17-19), and in his experience in his trial, condemnation, 
and death for the ransom of the world. 

It should likewise be remarked that in pursuing his 
one central theme, the Evangelist never fails to take into 
account and attach due weight to the other ideas peculiar 
to the Jews. He regards them as the chosen people, 
their religion as the true world-religion, its forms as the 
only divine religious forms, and its promise of Messiah 
addressed first of all to the Jews. Every diligent reader 
of his Gospel will not fail to discern evidence of the con- 
stant aim of Matthew, while presenting his main theme, 
to press all these truths upon the attention, and at the 
same time to correct the erroneous and distorted views, 
which, as already seen, had arisen out of them. 



THE CENTRAL IDEA. 127 

Use of Prophecy. Out of his single central theme, 
so steadily pursued, arises Matthew's peculiar use of the 
prophecies of the Old Testament, so in contrast with the 
usage of the other Evangelists. 

His references to the Jewish Scriptures, while more 
numerous than in all the other Gospels, are not, as in 
them, merely incidental, or for the sake of giving the 
knowledge of some doctrine involved, but rather to fur- 
nish the basis for the entire argument and to correct the 
practical errors into which the Jews had fallen. 

Mark has perhaps, less than a score of such references, 
almost all of which are general. But three of them, at 
the most, are property fulfillments of prophecy — Mark i. 
2 ; i. 3 ; xv. 28, — and only the last of the three is dis- 
tinctly presented as such. 1 

Luke has perhaps thirty references or allusions to the 
Old Testament Scriptures. Most of these are simple in- 
cidental citations of fact or law. The allusions to proph- 
ecy are given in the discourses embodied in the Gospel, 
— as in that of the angel (i. 17) ; of Mary (i. 55) ; of 
Zacharias (i. 69-75) ; of Simeon (ii. 32) ; in those of 
Jesus (iv. 17-21 ; vii. 22 ; xxiv. 25-28, 45-48). The 
argument of the book does not at all depend either upon 
the authority of the Scriptures or upon the fulfillment of 
prophecy. 2 

John has twenty or more references to the Old Testa- 
ment Scriptures. These generally take for granted that 
the Church is acquainted with the revelation of the Old 

1 The references to prophecy in the Gospel according to Mark, are as 
follows : ch. i. 2, 3, 15 ; ch. ii. 25, 26 ; ch. ix. 12, 13 ; ch. x. 4, 19 ; ch. xi. 
17 ; ch. xii. 10, 19, 26, 29, 36 ; ch. xiii. 14 ; ch. xiv. 27 ; ch. xv. 28. 

2 The references to the Old Testament Scriptures, in the Gospel according 
to Luke, are as follows : ch. i. 17, 55, 69-75 ; ch. iv. 4, 8, 10, 12, 17-21 ; ch. 
v. 14 ; ch. vi. 2-5, 6-10 ; ch. vii. 22 ; ch. x. 26-28 ; ch. xi. 29 ; ch. xiii. 14 ; 
ch. xiv. 1-5 ; ch. xvi. 16-18 ; ch. xviii. 20, 21, 31 ; ch. xix. 46 ; ch. xx. 17, 
28, 37, 38, 42, 43 ; ch. xxi. 22 ; ch. xxii. 37 ; ch. xxiv. 25-27, 45-48. 



128 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

Testament. In the first half of the Gospel, the refer- 
ences are chiefly incidental and confined to fact and law, 
— the words of the Baptist (i. 23) being an exception. 
In the second half, in which the teaching of Jesus in con- 
nection with his death is presented in its relations to the 
Christian life, all the references are occasioned by direct 
fulfillment of Messianic prophecies, well known to those 
who first heard these discourses of our Lord, and familiar 
to all intelligent Christians in all ages. The main argu- 
ment of the Gospel does not, however, at all turn upon 
them as prophecies, but they are mainly introduced in 
order to bring out some hidden spiritual meaning, not 
brought out in Matthew and not needed for the purposes 
contemplated by him in his Gospel. 1 

Matthew, on the other hand, as has already been 
shown, rests his Gospel entirely upon a basis of Old 
Testament revelation. He presents one continued com- 
parison of Jesus of Nazareth with the Messiah of the 
Prophets, a comparison which could not fail to have mar- 
velous convincing power with any candid Jew. His 
argument is nothing, and his Gospel almost unintelligible 
without this, — in short, the Old Testament doctrine of 
the Messiah, as announced in the Protevangelium, in the 
opening of Genesis, and unfolded through all the ages 
till the final words of Malachi, is the only key to the 
first Gospel. 

II. The General Drift. 

The influence of the central theme of the Evangelist 
is everywhere manifest in the general drift of his Gospel, 
so different from that of the other Gospels. 

1 The references to the Old Testament Scriptures, in the Gospel accord- 
in? to John, are as follows: ch. i. 23; ch. ii. 17 ; ch. v. 9, 10; ch. vi. 14, 
31, 45 ; ch. vii. 22, 23, 38, 42 ; ch. viii. 5, 17 ; ch. x. 34, 35 ; ch. xii. 14-16, 
34, 38, 39-41 ; ch. xiii. 18; ch. xv. 25 ; ch. xix. 24, 28, 36, 37. 



THE CENTRAL IDEA. 129 

To follow the outward form, the Gospel opens with 
the origin and preparation of Jesus for the work of Mes- 
siah, and his induction into the office of Messiah. Part 
First presents the public proclamation by Jesus as Mes- 
siah of the kingdom of heaven, first by himself alone, 
and afterward as associated with the twelve Apostles. 
Part Second exhibits his public claim to be the Messiah, 
made and confirmed first to the Twelve and then to the 
people at large. Part Third sets forth his sufferings and 
death as the Messiah, first announced as being at hand, 
and then prepared for and endured as a ransom for many. 
The Conclusion exhibits the fact and proof of the resur- 
rection of Jesus as Messiah from the dead, and his as- 
sumption of the royal Messianic prerogatives. 

To follow the inward drift of thought, the . Gospel 
takes the life of Jesus as it was lived on earth, and his 
character as it actually appeared, and places them along- 
side the life and character of the Messiah as sketched in 
the Prophets, the historic by the side of the prophetic, 
that the two may appear in their marvelous unity and 
in their perfect identity. The greatness of the Prophet; 
like unto Moses is seen in the Nazarene, as he speaks for 
God the fundamental truths of the kingdom of heaven 
and foretells its future. The grandeur of the suffering 
Servant of Jehovah, " despised and rejected of men," 
" wounded for our transgressions," shines through all his 
words and acts that culminate in his vicarious death on 
Calvary. The sublimity of the King of whom Jehovah 
said, " I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion," ap- 
pears in the Son of David, as he forms and gives law to 
a world-wide spiritual society, an everlasting state, the 
kingdom of heaven. Jesus and the Messiah are demon- 
strated to be in all respects one and the same. 

All this was just what was needed to commend him 
as a Saviour to the Jews. It was a true view of the 



130 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

prophet of Nazareth, for whatever Jesus may have been 
besides, he was also and primarily the Messiah, the high- 
est development of Judaism, — humanly speaking, the 
ideal Jew. He was not merely the accomplishment of 
Hebrew prophecy in an external sense, but the highest 
expression of all that was good in Judaism — the inher- 
itor of whatever moral wisdom, whatever spiritual genius, 
survived in it. 1 This Jesus, at once the greatest among 
Jews, and the finisher of Judaism — the Messiah — is 
the Jesus represented by Matthew. 

SECTION in. 

THE JEWISH ADAPTATION IN THE OMISSIONS AND AD- 
DITIONS OF THE FIRST GOSPEL. 

The Jewish design of the first Gospel is still further 
manifest both from what the Evangelist omits of what is 
found in the other Gospels and from what he adds to 
what is found in them. 

I. The Omissions of the First Grospel. 

Matthew, in writing for the Jew, characteristically 
omits, as useless for his purpose, whatever is distinctively 
Roman, Greek, or Christian, in the presentation of the 
Gospel. 

In General. The careful reader will note the entire 
absence of such explanations of Jewish customs, as that 
which Mark gives of the religious washing of the hands 
before eating, and of " the washing of cups, and pots, 
brazen vessels, and of tables " (Mark vii. 2-5), which 
were necessary for the stranger of Roman birth. There 
are no such explanations of Jewish topography, as that 
which Luke gives of the " village called Emmaus, which 
was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs " (Luke 
1 Principal Tulloch, Lectures on R&ian's ' Vie de Je'sus.' 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 131 

xxiv. 13), and which were necessary to the strangers 
of Greek birth and philosophic turn of mind. There is 
an absence of such explanations of Jewish facts, as that 
which John gives of the enmity of the Jews to the Sa- 
maritans (John iv. 4), and which were necessary for the 
Christians over the world after the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem and the desolation of Judaea. For the Jew, at home 
in Jerusalem, or often visiting it, there was, at the date 
of Matthew's writing, no need of any of these things. 

From Mark. The same careful attention will reveal 
the fact that the first Gospel uniformly omits those vivid 
details and scenic representations of events, which will be 
seen to abound in and to characterize the second Gospel, 
and which fitted it for the Roman, the man of power and 
action. 

From Luke. Still more marked is the omission of 
those eminently human features, in which Luke's Gospel 
will be seen to abound ; and of the facts of the ministry 
of Jesus in Peraea, with those universal aspects and rela- 
tions of Christ's teachings and work, which furnish so 
large a portion of the third Gospel (ix. 51-xviii. 30), 
features and facts which fitted that Gospel for the Greek, 
the man whose ideal was the perfect man of human de- 
velopment, and who was the representative of universal 
humanity. To one who duly considers this omission by 
Matthew of what constitutes the very heart of Luke's 
Gospel, and of what has been to mankind at large the 
most precious of all the teachings of the first three Gos- 
pels, it will never cease to be regarded as a marvelous 
thing, and a thing which can be explained only by the 
consideration that the one Evangelist wrote for the Jew, 
the man of the covenant and of prophecy, and the other 
for the Greek, the man of world-wide sympathies and 
aspirations. 

From John. Most remarkable of all is the absence 



132 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

of the ministry in Judaea, to the true Israel, and those 
preeminently spiritual discourses which constitute the 
greater part of the fourth Gospel, and which fitted it for 
the Christian, the man already united to Christ by a 
living faith. One might at first suppose that these teach- 
ings were exactly suited to the wants of the Jewish race, 
since they were addressed directly to those who belonged 
to that race. But more careful consideration will make 
it plain that, as they were in the main addressed to that 
small class of Jews who held the advanced ground on the 
doctrine of the Messiah, and were possessed of more or 
less of the true spiritual insight, so they could have 
proved to the mass of the Jews only a stumbling-block, 
and were therefore fitted to form a part of that Gospel 
only which was prepared by John distinctively for the 
Christian. 

All these things, had Matthew embodied them in his 
Gospel, would have done little toward commending Jesus 
to the attention and interest of the mass of the Jews, 
who were waiting for the advent of the Messiah of the 
Scriptures, and holding peculiarly Jewish and unspiritual 
views regarding the nature of his person, character, and 
coming. They could, therefore, properly have no place 
in a Gospel for the Jews. 

But notwithstanding all these omissions, the Holy 
Spirit has guarded the first Gospel against being justly 
charged with presenting Jesus as exclusively the Saviour 
of the Jews. 

He is the descendant of Abraham, but four Gentile 
women find place in the genealogy : Tamar of Timnath ; 
Rahab of Jericho ; Ruth of Moab ; and Bathsheba of 
Gath (ch. i.). He is born King of the Jews, but those 
who first seek him to worship him are not Jews, but 
" wise men from the East," the first fruits of the Gen- 
tiles (ii.). He chooses twelve Apostles and sends them 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 133 

forth first to " the lost sheep of the house of Israel," but 
only one of them, Judas Iscariot, or Judas the man of 
Kerioth, is of Judaea, while all the rest are Galileans (x.). 
The final commission reads : " Go ye therefore and teach 
all nations" (xxviii.). 

The Gospel, in Matthew's view, is first a Gospel for 
the Jews, that it may ultimately become a Gospel for 
mankind. In short, the omissions of Matthew, while 
they mark his production as distinctively for the Jews, 
do not by any means confine salvation to the Jews, but 
extend it to all the race. 

II. The Additions of the First Gospel. 

The first Gospel gives even better evidence of its 
special Jewish aim in what it adds to the records of the 
other Evangelists than in what it omits of that which is 
to be found in them. 

Additions in Form. It has been remarked, of late, 
that Matthew adds an important feature to the form of 
his Gospel, in the careful and systematic grouping of his 
material, — a feature that especially adapted it to the 
Jewish mind. 

There is scarcely a more systematic production to be 
found. This will appear clearly from an examination of 
the outline view given. With reference to this point, 
Lange has remarked, that " it is a characteristic of this 
Gospel, which is increasingly recognized, that a careful 
grouping of events prevails throughout." 

This feature may be regarded as resulting from any 
one or all of three causes : the character of the contents 
of the first Gospel, as a comparison of the historic Jesus 
and the prophetic Messiah to establish their identity ; 
the practical business training, already adverted to, of 
Matthew, the publican ; or the characteristic needs of 
Jewish readers, who were trained to such systematic use 



134 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

of reason and memory by their entire religious system 
and practice. Doubtless all three influences had to do 
with the result under consideration. 

This careful grouping may be observed in all the more 
characteristic portions of the Gospel: in the genealogy 
(i.) ; in the Sermon on the Mount (v.-vii.) ; in the three 
series of miracles (viii.-ix.) ; in the charge to the twelve 
(x.) ; in the parables of the kingdom (xiii.) ; in the 
series of rejections (xiii.-xvi.) ; in the three successive 
predictions of the death of Jesus (xvi. 21 ; xvii. 22 ; xx. 
17) ; and in the final conflict of Jesus with the authori- 
ties (xxi.-xxii.). 

It is not at all strange, considering the character of the 
rationalistic criticism, that this peculiarity has been made 
use of in the attempt to sustain the hypothesis, that the 
original Gospel of Matthew consisted only of a collection 
of fragmentary sayings ; but in the outline view, already 
given, it may readily be seen that there was a rational 
motive in the mind of the Evangelist for grouping them 
as they are. Matthew has, in short, given us the most 
systematic of the Gospels, because his plan and purpose 
called for it. His arrangement fits his Gospel to appeal 
most powerfully to the Jewish soul and to fix itself per- 
manently in the Jewish memory. Indeed, the Jew who 
once took its truths and facts into his mind could not get 
them out again, for it connected the name of Jesus of 
Nazareth indissolubly and forever with all the religious 
knowledge and hopes of the descendant of Abraham, and 
with all the glories of his past national history. Its sys- 
tem was, doubtless, divinely ordained to serve this very 
purpose. The rational aim, human and divine, leaves no 
place for the rationalistic conjecture. 

Additions to Material. Still more clearly do the addi- 
tions, which the first Evangelist makes to the material of 
the other Gospels, appear to be made to fit his produc- 
tion for Jewish readers. 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 135 

By that mechanical analysis, which has always played 
so prominent a part in the study of the Scriptures, it has 
been shown that, if the Gospel according to Matthew be 
regarded as made up of 100 parts, 42 of these are peculiar 
to itself, and 58 common to this with one or more of the 
other Gospels. A much more important fact — and one 
that can readily be shown to be a fact, although it has 
been overlooked — is, that all the 42 parts peculiar to 
Matthew are precisely adapted to the Jewish aim of the 
Evangelist. 

This may be shown by passing in review the narra- 
tives, discourses, and groups of events of which Matthew's 
additions are made up. They all have such a special 
Jewish reference as is not to be found in the material of 
the other Evangelists. 

The origin of Jesus as Messiah (i.-ii.), is peculiar to 
Matthew. 

The genealogy given (i. 1-17) is that of Jesus, through 
Solomon and Joseph, as heir to the throne of David ; 
while that of Luke (Luke iii. 23-38) is that of natural 
descent through Nathan and Mary, which did not neces- 
sarily entitle him to the throne, but which was of interest 
to the Gentile world as giving his actual lineage. It 
should also be remarked that the first Evangelist traces 
back the line of Jesus only to Abraham, the father of the 
covenant people ; while the third traces it to Adam, the 
father of the race. 

The Jew would not listen to any one who had not the 
prophetic origin of the Messiah. The one line, of all 
possible opening lines, best fitted to attract and fix the 
attention of the Jew, was that with which Matthew opens 
his Gospel. The genealogy which it introduces gives the 
official pedigree of Jesus. It is documentary evidence, 
drawn from the Scriptures and from the public records, 
which the Jew could examine for himself. Its threefold 



136 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

division connected it with the greatest events of Jewish 
history, — the covenant, the monarchy, and the captivity. 

The divine origin and human birth of Jesus (i. 18-25) 
is in accordance with prophecy, and distinctively for the 
Jew. The Anointed of God was to be " God with us," 
divine as well as human. Hence Matthew presents, in 
connection with the espousal of Mary and Joseph, the 
divine origin of Jesus by the power of the Holy Ghost, 
and his actual human birth of the virgin, — holding him 
up to the Jew, as not only the son and heir of David, 
but as named by God himself " Jesus" Jah-Hoshea, the 
Jehovah-Saviour, "Emmanuel." The families of Jo- 
seph and Zacharias were competent witnesses of the 
facts. 

The narrative of events from the birth until the set- 
tlement in Nazareth (ii.) is given for the Jew, and was 
absolutely necessary for his conviction of the Messiah- 
ship of Jesus. The Jew would naturally and inevitably 
fall back upon the objection, that Jesus was from Naza- 
reth of Galilee, and therefore had not the birthplace of 
the Messiah. Hence Matthew proceeds to establish the 
fact that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and to show how 
and why the misconception had arisen. That he was 
actually born in Bethlehem and not in Nazareth, appeared 
from a train of events which had already passed into his- 
tory, and which found their best and only sufficient ex- 
planation in his birth in the former place. When this 
Gospel was written, the notable coming of the Magi to 
Jerusalem, at the very time when Messiah ought to have 
appeared, was doubtless still remembered ; the record 
of the meeting and the decree of the Sanhedrim called 
by Herod doubtless still remained ; the flight into Egypt 
and the murder of the babes had still their living wit- 
nesses ; and the residence in Nazareth is at last fully ac- 
counted for by the divine command to settle there and 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 137 

the prophecy that the Messiah should be called a Naza- 
rene. 

The Sermon on the Mount (v.-yii.), is peculiarly 
adapted to the Jew. 

It is assumed here, in accordance with the view of many 
of the best authorities, that the Sermon given by Mat- 
thew was delivered on a different occasion and to a differ- 
ent audience from the so-called Sermon on the Mount of 
Luke (Luke vi. 17-49), which should rather be called 
the Sermon on the Plain. But the Sermon illustrates 
equally well on either supposition the point here to be 
kept in mind. 

If the two are abstracts of the same address, then the 
fitness of Matthew's abstract for the Jew is seen in his 
preserving the Jewish features and references, which 
Luke so entirely omits. 

But regarded as an independent discourse, it will be 
seen at once that the Sermon on the Mount, in present- 
ing the constitution of the kingdom of heaven, keeps con- 
stantly in view the Law and the Prophets, and the con- 
dition and needs of the Jew of Christ's day. It might 
readily be shown in detail how it acknowledges the pre- 
eminence of the Jew by divine choice, and yet rebukes 
his unrighteous and arrogant pretensions, reveals his per- 
versions of the Scriptures, tears off the mask of hypocrisy, 
and presses upon him the only way of righteousness and 
life by the most solemn and emphatic appeals to the 
issues of the final reckoning. Every sentence of it was 
aimed directly at the Jew. 

The original mission of the Twelve (x.) was to the 
Jews (x. 6, 23), and in consequence of their spiritual 
destitution as witnessed in Galilee (ix. 35-38) ; and the 
charge given them had primar}' reference to their work 
for Israel, as may be seen by an examination of it. 

The same peculiar features may be traced in the other 



138 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

discourses of our Lord, added by Matthew, either wholly 
or in part, to the Gospel material : in the upbraiding of 
the cities of Galilee (xi. 20-30) ; in the answer to the 
Scribes and Pharisees who demanded a sign (xii. 38-45) ; 
in the divine compassion for the lost, and the law of 
Church censure and forgiveness (xviii. 10-35) ; in the 
judgment of the Scribes and Pharisees and of Jerusalem 
(xxiii. 1-39) ; and in the description of the day of judg- 
ment (xxv). 

Besides the capital fact, emphasized by Matthew, that 
Jesus changed from plain teaching to parabolic because 
of the blindness and obduracy of the Jews (Matt. xiii. 
10-16), it may be shown that most of the long list of 
parables contained in the latter half of the first Gospel 
are especially condemnatory of the Jews. This is true 
of the parable of the unmerciful servant (xviii.), which 
opposes the boundless forgiveness required in the king- 
dom, to the teaching of the Jew which confined the for- 
giveness of an offending brother to three successive of- 
fenses ; that of the laborers in the vineyard (xx.), which 
lifts the Gentile to the same level of divine privilege with 
the Jew ; that of the two sons (xxi.), which exalts the 
Gentile above the Jew; that of the marriage of the 
king's son (xxii.), which threatens that the kingdom shall 
be taken wholly from the Jewish people and given to the 
Gentiles ; that of the ten virgins (xxv.), which contrasts 
true piety with Jewish formality ; that of the talents 
(xxv.), which opposes productive spiritual activity to 
Jewish obduracy and barrenness. 

The Jewish adaptation is also manifest in the great 
groups of events and teachings given by Matthew : in 
the three series of miracles (viii. 1-ix. 35) ; in the par- 
ables of the kingdom of heaven (xiii. 1-53) ; in the 
progressive stages of awakened doubt and opposition 
(xi. 2-xii. 50) ; in the series of rejections (xii. 54- 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 139 

xvi. 12) ; and in the series of conflicts (xxi. 18-xxiii. 
39). 

The examination of all these various passages might 
be entered into with thoroughness, and extended to the 
most minute particulars, and always with accumulating 
evidence and increasing conviction that they were all 
added by the Evangelist, under the special guidance of 
the Holy Spirit, to commend Jesus of Nazareth to the 
Jews as the Messiah their Saviour. Everything bears the 
plainest marks of the Jewish aim. 

SECTION IV. 

THE JEWISH ADAPTATION IN THE INCIDENTAL VARI- 
ATIONS OF THE FIRST GOSPEL. 

The adaptation of Matthew's Gospel to the Jewish 
needs appears in the incidental variations and peculiari- 
ties throughout the entire production. 

I. Incidental Variations, 

Different writers, in recording the same facts or events, 
under the influence of different aims, always exhibit their 
subject with manifold incidental variations. This feature 
is very marked in the Gospels, and in the case of each 
Evangelist it will be found that these variations always 
bear the marks of his special aim. 

Narrative Changes. This will appear in comparing 
Matthew's mode of treating some portions of the evan- 
gelic facts with the mode adopted by the other Evangel- 
ists. 

The mission of the Baptist is recorded or referred to 
in all the Gospels. In Matthew he heralds Jesus as the 
Messiah of the Jews, coming in fulfillment of prophecy. 
He who shall come after this heralding is to appear as the 
Lord Jehovah in person, to set up the kingdom of heaven 



140 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

among men, and the Jews are called to repentance as a 
preparation for his appearance. In Mark, the work of 
the Baptist is introduced to exhibit by contrast the 
mightier power of the Son of God, who comes to set up 
the kingdom of God. In Luke, the work of the Baptist 
brings Jesus forward as the one perfect man, placing him- 
self on a level with all men by coming to be baptized 
" when all the people were baptized." In John, the 
Baptist witnesses to Jesus, before the Church and the 
world, as the divine, eternal, only-begotten Son of God, 
the Lamb of God sacrificed to take away the sin of the 
world, the life and light of men. 

The temptation of Christ appears only in the first 
three Gospels, but in each of these with characteristic 
differences. Matthew, commending Jesus as king to the 
Jew, presents the temptations in one order of the three- 
fold relation of Jesus : first, to human wants ; secondly, 
to dependence on God ; and, thirdly, to the sovereignty 
of the world, — closing thus by showing that the king, 
the second Adam, would win the kingdom by obedience 
to the law given to man and transgressed in the first 
Adam. Luke, commending Jesus to the world as the 
perfect man and Saviour, presents the temptations in a 
different order of the same threefold relation of Jesus : 
first, to human wants ; secondly, to the sovereignty of 
the world ; and, thirdly, to his human dependence on 
God, — closing thus with the preservation of the just re- 
lations of the divine-human Saviour to God. Mark, 
commending Jesus to the Roman, as the mighty God, 
the almighty worker and conqueror, gathers all up into 
a single sentence, and adds to the victory over Satan that 
over the terrors of the wilderness, thereby vastly increas- 
ing the impression of the power of the Son of God. 

All the Evangelists set out from the Baptist in intro- 
ducing their readers to the ministry of Jesus, but the dif- 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 141 

ferences in procedure are characteristic. Mark, keeping 
in view the Roman, merely makes the imprisonment of 
the Baptist the starting-point of a wonder-working min- 
istry of Jesus in Galilee, into the marvels of which he 
hurries us at once, without even hinting at its prophetic 
relations. Luke, in tracing for the reasoning Greek the 
orderly development of the life and work of Jesus, opens 
with the ministry in Galilee, as the natural sequence of 
that of the Baptist, but does not emphasize the connec- 
tion. John, writing for the Christian, sets out with the 
Baptist, as preparing the way for that private ministry 
of Jesus in Judaea which preceded the public ministry in 
Galilee, and which, as being directed to the true Israel 
and dealing with high spiritual themes, is passed over in 
silence by the other Evangelists, but brought forward in 
the Gospel for the Christian, the spiritual man, as emi- 
nently fitted to further its peculiar aim. Matthew, with 
his eye on the Jew, starts with the public ministry of 
Jesus in Galilee, ■ — which, strictly speaking, could begin 
only when that of the Baptist, the forerunner, closed, — 
and presents Jesus at once and most prominently in his 
Messianic character, fulfilling prophecy. 

Or, passing on to the scenes of Calvary, and the clos- 
ing career, it will be observed that the only one of the 
seven sayings of Christ on the cross which is recorded by 
the first Evangelist is that from Psalm xxii. : " Eli ! Eli ! 
lama sabachthani ? that is to say, My God, My God, why 
hast thou forsaken me ? " That is distinctively the 
Psalm of the suffering Messiah. He may have repeated 
it all. At all events, it must have passed through his 
soul at that hour. Ages before the inspired psalmist 
had drawn the picture, and it was the one Scripture of 
all to bring home and explain that scene on Calvary to 
the Jewish soul. The agony, the forsaking by God, the 
scoffing of men, the exhaustion and death, the piercing 



142 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

of hands and feet, the casting of lots for the garments, 
are all there in the Psalm as distinct as the reality it- 
self. The triumph and the glory are there, too, just as 
distinct. " All the ends of the world shall remember 
and turn unto the Lord : and all the kindreds of the na- 
tions shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the 
Lord's, and he is the governor among the nations." So 
the Psalm (xxii. 27, 28) advances from the wail of the 
sufferer to the triumphant shout of the Messianic Con- 
queror and King. " All power is given unto me in 
heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all na- 
tions, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of 
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to ob- 
serve all things whatsoever I have commanded you." 
So the Gospel rises to the same triumphant Messianic 
note (Matt, xxviii. 18-20). 

Such examples might be extended to cover all the 
facts and events which Matthew records in common with 
one or more of the other Evangelists, and would every- 
where be found to exhibit the same characteristics. 

Slighter Additions. But passing over these, there is 
a very large and important class of incidental additions, 
made by Matthew, in connection with materials common 
to two or more of the Gospels. 

Matthew alone brings out the fulfillment of Messianic 
prophecies in connection with the great outward events of 
our Lord's life : in the place, time, and extraordinary 
circumstances of his public ministry (iv. 13-25) ; in the 
noiselessness of his work (xii. 17-21) ; in his rejection 
(xiii. 13-17) ; in his teaching by parables (xiii. 33-35) ; 
and in the miracles in the temple (xxi. 14-16). 

It is from Matthew that we learn that the conflict of 
opinion, which resulted in the death of Jesus, had already 
begun as early as the healing of the two blind men and 
the dumb demoniac in Capernaum (ix. 27-34) ; that the 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 143 

Sanhedrim plotted his destruction in public assembly 
(xxvi. 3-5) ; that the price given the traitor was that of 
a common slave (xxvi. 16) ; that Judas repented, re- 
turned the money, and committed suicide, fulfilling 
prophecy (xxvii. 3-10) : that Pilate washed his hands of 
the blood of Jesus, and all the people said, " His blood 
be on us, and on our children " (xxvii. 24, 25) ; and that 
the enemies of Jesus made his sepulchre sure (xxvii. 
62-66), and afterwards invented the report that his dis- 
ciples stole his body away (xxviii. 11-15). 

Matthew alone tells us that Jesus declared John to be 
the Elijah who was to come (xi. 12-15) ; that he charac- 
terized the Jew and the Gentile in the parable of the 
two sons (xxi. 28-32) ; that he forced the Jewish leaders 
to pronounce judgment upon themselves, and then added 
his own (xxi. 40-44) ; and that he predicted the connec- 
tion of his death with the Sacrifice of the Passover 
(xxvi. 2). 

It is to Matthew that we owe the fact that after the 
resurrection of Jesus many saints came forth from their 
graves in testimony of his divine mission and power 
(xxvii. 52, 53) ; and that he was worshiped by the dis- 
ciples on the mountain in Galilee, and then assumed the 
divine authority of the Messiah (xxvii. 17-20). 

Such variations have an increased importance from the 
fact that they furnish incidentally, and in way not to be 
resisted, just the credentials needed in presenting Jesus 
as Messiah to the Jews. 

"Word Changes. There is another class of variations, 
slighter, perhaps, but no less characteristic, often in- 
volved in the change of a single word, which deserves 
notice as illustrating the same Jewish reference of the 
first Gospel. 

Only Matthew tells us, in narrating the temptation, 
that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for 



144 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

the express purpose of being tempted by the devil (iv. 1). 
The Jew alone felt it to be a necessity that the second 
Adam, in his work of fulfilling the law and restoring 
man, should meet and overcome the tempter by whom 
the first Adam fell. So Matthew tells us that the devil, 
in preparing for the second temptation, takes Jesus to the 
holy city of the Jew (iv. 5), and there makes his second 
assault upon him. Luke says the devil brought him 
to Jerusalem (Luke iv. 9). To the Greek, the former 
expression would have been unintelligible without expla- 
nation ; to the Jew it was the cherished form of speech, 
and his delight in Jerusalem was because it was the holy 
city. 

Matthew's account of the triumphal entry of Jesus into 
Jerusalem bears like marks of the writer's aim. He 
alone tells us that the disciples brought both a colt and 
an ass to the Mount of Olives (xxi. 2, 5, 7) ; and this he 
repeats in three forms, showing that it was in exact ful- 
fillment of prophecy (Zech. ix. 9). Mark and Luke 
speak of the colt only (Mark xi. 2 ; Luke xix. 30), as 
that on which Jesus rode ; while John, in the language of 
prophecy, mentions the ass's colt (xii. 15). It is also 
worthy of remark that only the Evangelist who had a 
supreme interest in the Jews mentions the fact that all 
Jerusalem was moved at the entrance of Jesus the 
prophet of Nazareth of Galilee (xxi. 10, 11). 

Or passing on to the arrest of Jesus in Gethsemane, 
could anything be more marked than the variations of 
Matthew's account from the accounts of the other Evan- 
gelists ? Only he tells us of Christ's curse upon the use 
of the sword in his cause: "for all they that take the 
sword shall perish by the sword " (xxvi. 52). It was 
the needed caution to the Apostles, whose Jewish nature 
was always leading them to put the temporal in the place 
of the spiritual. And as Matthew had before taught the 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 145 

Jew most clearly that the sacrifice of Jesus was entirely- 
voluntary, as a ransom for sinners (xx. 28), so here that 
Evangelist alone represents Jesus as declaring, and that 
with the most solemn emphasis, that he made it volun- 
tarily to fulfill the law and the prophets, when all the 
forces of heaven were at his command (xxvi. 53, 54). 

These are but instances of those slighter changes found 
throughout the first Gospel, and everywhere showing its 
Jewish aim and coloring. 

II. Other Peculiarities. 

From the entire survey, as pursued thus far, it is fur- 
ther obvious that the first Gospel exhibits certain other 
marks, in matter entirely peculiar to itself, which can 
only be explained by its Jewish aim. 

Jewish Assumptions. Matthew assumes, and every- 
where acts upon the assumption of what have been 
shown to be the characteristics of the Jews as distin- 
guished from the other men of that age. 

He acknowledges the Jews the chosen people of God, 
as in the words concerning the faith of the centurion 
(viii. 10-12) ; in the charge to the Twelve (x. 5, 6) ; and 
in the words of the Canaanitish woman (xv. 24) ; while, 
in the very same connection, he rebukes their exclusive- 
ness and wicked pretensions. 

He assumes that to them belonged the oracles of God, 
while he everywhere exhibits, corrects, and denounces 
their perversions of the great practical doctrines. He 
admits that they possess the only true forms of religious 
worship, while he unveils and denounces with merciless 
severity their hypocritical formalism. He proceeds, as 
has been abundantly shown, upon their familiarity with 
the doctrine of the Messiah, while he exposes their car- 
nal and worldly views of his kingdom, and presents it 
in its true spiritual aspects. 

10 



146 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

Jewish Expressions. There still remain certain ex- 
pressions and features of the first Gospel which may be 
noticed as bringing out for the Jew with peculiar clear- 
ness the spiritual character of Messiah and his kingdom. 
Here was the one most insidious dream of the age, which 
needed, therefore, most of all to be dissipated. 

The first of these expressions is the kingdom of heaven, 
or of the heavens, as the original has it. Matthew uses 
it no less than thirty times. He alone of all the Evan- 
gelists uses it. The Baptist's call was, " Repent ye, for 
the kingdom of heaven is at hand " (iii. 2). The open- 
ing proclamation of Jesus was, " Repent, for the kingdom 
of heaven is at hand " (iv. 17). So throughout the 
Gospel the phrase is used. 

The phrase clearly expresses the idea that it is a king- 
dom distinct from all those kingdoms of this world after 
which the Jew had fashioned his idea of Messiah's do- 
minion. Its origin is in the heavens where God dwells : 
its throne, the seat of its king, is there ; its highest pres- 
ent and prospective glories are there. 

This simple phrase taught that the kingdom of Messiah 
was to be a spiritual and heavenly kingdom, unlike the 
old theocracy with its temple and throne in Jerusalem ; 
unlike the magnificent empire patterned after Rome, 
which the worldly Jew was dreaming of ; wholly unlike 
the temporal empire of the Papacy long after established. 

Matthew uses the equally significant and spiritual ex- 
pression, the Church. The other Evangelists never use 
it. 

The Church, the ecclesia, is the body of Christ's fol- 
lowers, called out from the unspiritual world, from -the 
kingdom of darkness, and brought into spiritual obedience 
to him as their head. Matthew represents Jesus as iden- 
tifying the Church with the kingdom of heaven, and 
giving it his divine authority : " And I say also unto 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 147 

thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build 
my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against 
it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom 
of heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall 
be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on 
earth shall be loosed in heaven " (xvi. 18-20). This 
authority of the Church is also reaffirmed in connection 
with the statement of the law of offenses in the kingdom 
(xviii. 18-20). The kingdom of heaven, as manifested 
in the Church, is thus clearly seen to be a spiritual or- 
ganization, independent of all temporal and worldly 
organizations. 

Lest there should still be room for the dangerous Jew- 
ish error of confounding the kingdom of Messiah with 
the kingdoms of this world, Matthew represents Jesus as 
still more clearly distinguishing between the two by his 
plain teaching that the two are distinct, — each being 
supreme in its own sphere. "When the Herodians and 
Pharisees tempted him to teach sedition, by the crafty 
question, " Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or 
not? " Mark and Luke represent him as saying " Bring 
me a penny ; " and it has been alleged that his admirable 
reply, when it was brought to him, " Render therefore 
unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God 
the things which be God's," was only an ingenious eva- 
sion of the question put to him ; but as Matthew puts it, 
he said, " Shew me the tribute money " so that it was with 
the penny in his hand as tribute money that his reply 
was given ; and accordingly it was no evasion, but an ex- 
plicit inculcation of the duty of payment. 1 

If there is still doubt, let it be remembered that Jesus 
actually paid tribute, and on one occasion wrought a mir- 
acle to provide the means of paying it (xvii. 24-27), 
— a fact which Matthew alone records. 

1 For a suggestive summary of facts on this and other points, see The 
Four Evangelists, by Rev. Edward A. Thomson, pp. 41-46. 



148 MATTHEW, THE GOSPEL FOR THE JEW. 

Still further, it will be found by examination, that in 
the first Gospel only is the authority of Pilate, the civil 
ruler, distinctly recognized. In this Gospel alone he is 
the governor. Moreover, in this Gospel only, as has been 
shown, is there added to the rebuke to the unlawful re- 
sistance of Peter, recorded also by John, " Put up thy 
sword into his place," the significant words, " For all 
they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." 

The foundation of the kingdom upon righteousness 
rather than force, its existence in the midst of the king- 
doms of this world, its rejection by the great leaders and 
rulers of men, complete the evidence of its spirituality, 
and give the death-blow to all the carnal expectations of 
the Jews. It is to be a universal kingdom established by 
the preaching of the Gospel throughout the world (xxviii. 
18-20). 

SUMMARY. 

To one casting a final glance back, from the point now 
reached, over the entire course of investigation pursued, 
the Jewish adaptation of the Gospel according to Mat- 
thew cannot fail to appear clearly. 

It has been shown to be a historical fact that Matthew, 
a Jew eminently fitted for the task, wrote this Gospel 
for the Jews, the men chosen by God to be the custodians 
of both the doctrines and forms of the true and divine 
world-religion, and the men from whom and to whom the 
prophets had ages before declared that the Messiah was 
first to come. This is the historical foundation of the 
true theory of the Gospel. 

It has also been shown that the first Gospel itself 
everywhere bears the marks of its Jewish origin and aim. 
This appears in its entire plan, which is the unfolding of 
the central idea that Jesus is the Messiah of the Prophets. 
It appears likewise in the omissions and additions made 
by the Evangelist, both of which have been shown to 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 149 

have been made to adapt it to the Jewish soul and its 
needs. It appears no less clearly in all its incidental va- 
riations from the others, and in all its incidental, at first 
view almost accidental, peculiarities, — the entire pro- 
duction being moulded and shaped and colored, in its nar- 
ratives, sentences, and words, by its Jewish reference and 
adaptation. 

It is not, therefore, too much to claim, that the histor- 
ical and critical views of the Gospel combine to estab- 
lish the theory that Matthew was originally the Gospel 
for the Jew, and to demonstrate that this theory is the 
true key to the Gospel. 



PAET III. 



MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

" Sole victor from th* expulsion of his foes 
Messiah his triumphal chariot turn'd ; 

Son, Heir, and Lord, to Him dominion given, 
Worthiest to receive." 

John Milton. 

" The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God ; as it 
is written in the Prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, 
which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the 
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord ; make his paths straight/' 

Mark i. 1-3. 

" Secundus Marcus, interpres apostoli Petri, et Alexandrinae ecclesise 
primus episcopus, qui Dominum quidem Salvatorem ipse non vidit, sed ea 
quae magistrum audierat prsedicantem, juxta fidem magis gestorum nar- 
ravit quam ordinem." Jerome. 



CHAPTER I. 

HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE ROMAN ADAPTATION OF THE 
SECOND GOSPEL. 

SECTION I. 

ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF THE SECOND GOSPEL. 

Following the order laid down in the investigation 
of the Gospel according to Matthew, it becomes neces- 
sary to ask and answer the questions : What was the 



ORIGIN AND DESIGN. 151 

actual origin of the Gospel according to Mark ? For what 
class of readers was it immediately designed ? 

The latter question has seldom been asked, but a vast 
amount of time and effort has been expended upon the 
construction of a priori and imaginative theories of the 
origin of the second Gospel. 

Perhaps the most popular of these theories is that of 
the critics who would have us believe that this Gospel 
is only a very awkward rehash of that according to 
Matthew, with the occasional addition, no less awkward, 
of some statement from Luke. The remarkable resem- 
blance of the first and second Gospels seems at first sight 
to give probability to the theory, but it will be shown 
subsequently that this resemblance is to be accounted for 
in a different manner. The hasty and sometimes shabby 
treatment of the second Gospel by many of the commen- 
tators has done not a little to foster, in the minds of com- 
mon readers, a view too closely allied to that of these 
critics. 

A careful study of the Gospel itself, with a wise refer- 
ence to the age in which it was produced and to the act- 
ual history of its origin, will reveal the fact that it has a 
distinct aim and an independent unity of its own. Such 
study will scarcely fail to convince the candid mind that 
Matthew is quite as likely to be a rehash of Mark, as 
Mark is of Matthew. At the same time, much more ac- 
cordant with a due reverence for the four Gospels, as pro- 
duced by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and forming 
together one part of a great plan of that Being who never 
really wastes material, is the theory that each one of the 
Evangelists, in writing what he wrote, was directed by 
infinite wisdom to perform an essential and distinct serv- 
ice for the world. 

From the historical point of view, it can be shown con- 
clusively that the second Gospel was written for the Ro- 



152 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

mans, the second of the three great representative races 
of which the civilized world of Mark's day was made 
up. 

"Witnesses. The most ancient direct testimony here, 
as in the case of Matthew, is that of Papias, as preserved 
by Eusebius. Papias recorded what he learned by in- 
quiry from the disciples of the Apostles. " Mark, the 
interpreter of Peter, wrote carefully down all that he 
recollected, but not according to the order of Christ's 
speaking or working. For, as I think, he neither had 
heard Christ, nor was a direct follower of him. But 
with Peter, as already said, he was afterward intimate, 
who used to preach the Gospel for the profit of his 
hearers, and not in order to construct a history of the 
sayings of the Lord. Hence Mark made no mistake, since 
he so wrote some things as he was accustomed to repeat 
them from memory, and since he continually sought this 
one thing, — neither to omit anything of those things 
which he had heard, nor to add anything false to them." 1 

The character of Papias, his method, and the value of 
his testimony, have already been considered under the 
origin and design of the first Gospel. The considerations 
there adduced apply with equal force here. Irenaeus 
confirms the testimony of Papias. He states that, after 
the departure of Peter and Paul from Rome, " Mark, the 
disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to 
us in writing what had been preached by Peter." 2 

Tertullian of Carthage, who wrote later, agrees with 
IrenaBus, declaring incidentally that the Gospel " which 
Murk published may be affirmed to be Peter's, whose in- 
terpreter Mark was." 3 

Clement of Alexandria, who flourished in the latter 

i Euseb. Hist. Eccles. iii. 39. 

2 Irenaeus, Against Heresies, iii. 1 ; iii. 10; Euseb. Hist. Eccles. v. 8. 

8 Tertulliau, Against Marcion, iv. 5. 



ORIGIN AND DESIGN. 153 

part of the second century, brings out more explicitly the 
Roman aim of the second Gospel. His scholarly attain- 
ments, wide acquaintance with the Church, and nearness 
to apostolic times, all combine to make him a most valu- 
able witness in this matter: his scholarly attainments, 
for, having studied first with the various philosophers, and 
afterwards with the distinguished Christian teachers, in 
Syria, Palestine, Greece, Italy, and Egypt, and having 
profited in all, he had scarcely an equal in his century, 
and so had readiest access to all the written opinions of 
the age ; his wide acquaintance with the Church, — for his 
travels and studies brought him into contact with well- 
nigh its whole extent from east to west, and gave him 
opportunity to learn the traditions on all such points ; his 
nearness to apostolic times, — for his life reached back so 
far as to need but a single link to connect it with the 
passing away of the last of the Apostles. With these 
facilities for arriving at the truth on that point, he makes 
his statement touching the aim of Mark's Gospel as an 
undisputed fact, and does it at a time when, if contrary 
to fact, it would have been the easiest thing conceivable 
to expose its falsehood. 

His statement was originally made in the sixth book 
of his Institutions, a writing not now extant but quoted 
by Eusebius. It is to the effect, that when the Gospel 
was preached to the Romans " such a light of piety shone 
into the minds of those who heard Peter that they were 
not satisfied with once hearing, nor with the unwritten 
doctrine that was delivered, but earnestly besought Mark 
(whose Gospel is now spread abroad) that he would leave 
in writing for them the doctrine which they had received 
by preaching ; nor did they cease until they had per- 
suaded him, and so given occasion for the Gospel to be 
written which is now called after Mark. The Apostle, 
understanding this by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, 



154 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

was pleased with the earnest desire of these men, and 
commanded this Gospel now written to be read in the 
churches." 2 

Clement elsewhere specifies some " Roman knights " 
as having made this request. 2 

Origen, the pupil of Clement, agrees with his master 
in his statement of the origin of the second Gospel. In 
the first book of his Commentaries on the Gospel of Mat- 
thew, in giving the catalogue of the New Testament 
Scriptures, he writes : " As I have understood from tra- 
dition, respecting the four Gospels, which are the only 
undisputed ones in the whole Church of God throughout 
the world ; the first is written according to Matthew, the 
same that was once a publican, but afterwards an Apostle 
of Jesus Christ, who having published it for the Jewish 
converts, wrote it in the Hebrew ; the second is according 
to Mark, who composed it, as Peter explained to him, 
who also acknowledges him as his son in his general 
Epistle, saying, ' The elect church in Babylon salutes you, 
as also Mark my son ; ' the third is according to Luke, 
the Gospel commended by Paul, which was written for 
the converts from the Gentiles ; and last of all is the 
Gospel according to John." 3 

At a later date, Eusebius the historian sums up the un- 
varying testimony of those who have gone before, and 
gives his own indorsement to the statement that Mark 
wrote his Gospel under the direction of Peter, at the re- 
quest of the brethren at Rome, and with a special view 
to circulation in Italy and among the Romans generally. 4 

Gregory Nazianzen confirms the main point in this 
testimony, in his Theological Poems, for the instruction 

1 Euseb. Hist. Eccles. ii. 15. 

2 Adumbrat. in 1 Pet. p. 1007. 

8 "Euseb. Hist. Eccles. vi. 25 ; Orig. Cornm. in Matt. i. 
4 Euseb. Hist. Eccles. ii. 15 ; vi. 14 ; vi. 25. 



ORIGIN AND DESIGN. 155 

of the Church, declaring that Mark wrote his account of 
the miraculous works of Christ for Romans. 1 

Jerome writes that " the second Evangelist is Mark, 
the interpreter of Peter, and the first bishop of the 
Church of Alexandria, who did not himself see the 
Saviour, but related those things which he had heard his 
master preaching, and according to the belief of the re- 
porters rather than in strict order." 2 

The veracity of these witnesses on this point has never 
been fairly impeached. No reasonable motive can be 
assigned for their making the main statements in which 
they agree, except the conviction that those statements 
were founded in fact. 

Pertinent Facts. We are therefore justified in ac- 
cepting as undoubted facts, that Mark wrote the second 
Gospel ; that it was substantially the preaching of Peter 
to the Romans ; that the Gospel was written at the re- 
quest of Romans, and was intended to give the preaching 
of Peter a permanent form for them ; and that it took 
advantage of the Roman peculiarities, and was fitted to 
commend Jesus, as the Saviour, to the Roman soul. 

The theory advanced in the present work does not di- 
rectly depend for its verification upon the establishment 
of the fact that Peter was actually at Rome and had to 
do with the founding of the church there ; for the Gos- 
pel was preached to the Romans all over the ancient 
world. The ease with which many writers throw aside, 
as unworthy of belief, the Patristic traditions concerning 
the connection of Peter and Mark with Rome, is, how- 
ever, to say the least, exceedingly marvelous. It appears 
all the more so when it is remembered that the Church 
rests upon the testimony of these same ancient writers for 
the most of her knowledge of the historic origin of the 

i Greg. Naz. Carmin. lib. i. sect. i. 12, vers. 32. 
- Hieron. Comment, in Evang. Matth. proleg. 3, 4. 



156 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

canon of the Scriptures and of the Christian religion. 
The influence of the modern criticism is at present man- 
ifesting itself in the tendency to treat slightly the un- 
varying Patristic traditions touching the connection of 
Peter with the Gospel of Mark. The methods, scientific 
value, and inevitable results of such criticism have already 
been adverted to, in considering the origin and design of 
the first Gospel. The common-sense view, which is al- 
ways in accordance with the truly scientific one, undoubt- 
edly is that expressed by Principal Tulloch : "If the tes- 
timony of the Fathers is good for anything at all, this 
connection (of Peter with Mark's Gospel) is as certain 
as any historical fact can be, and not less important than 
it is certain." 1 

Indirectly, therefore, as was seen in discussing the fact 
of a Hebrew original of Matthew's Gospel, the theory of 
the historic origin of Mark does depend, in some measure, 
upon the acceptance of these facts so clearly and unmis- 
takably stated by so many of the Fathers of the early 
Church ; for the same false principles of criticism must 
sweep away the entire basis of history and leave the pres- 
ent swinging loose from all the past. 

The clearly ascertained historical facts concerning the 
origin of the second Gospel, furnish the true starting- 
point in seeking an adequate understanding of the Gos- 
pel. 

SECTION II. 

THE CHARACTER AND NEEDS OF THE ROMAN. 

If the second Gospel originated, as has been shown, 
in the preaching of Peter, and was prepared through the 
agency of Mark for Roman readers, the character and 
needs of the Roman must furnish the key to this Gos- 
pel. 

1 Lectures on 'Vie de Je'sus,' p. 109. 



THE ROMAN CHARACTER. 157 

The questions to be asked and answered here are : 
What manner of man was the Roman ? What were his 
spiritual needs ? The answers to these questions will 
cast light upon whatever has been prepared under the in- 
fluence of the Holy Ghost for the Roman race. 

I. TJie Romans, 

Certain characteristics clearly distinguish the Romans 
from the other great historic races of the age of Christ. 
They represented the idea of active human power in the 
ancient world. They embodied that idea in the state or 
empire, as the repository of law and justice. They came 
in process of time to deify the state as the grandest con- 
crete manifestation of power. With the consciousness of 
being born to rule the world, they pushed the idea of 
national power to universal empire. 

Out of these characteristics, which made the Roman an 
altogether peculiar man among men, came his spiritual 
needs. Those needs were deepened and intensified by the 
ultimate failure of the Roman race in its attempted work 
for the world. Along the line of the peculiarities of this 
race must accordingly be sought the correct understand- 
ing of their Gospel requirements in the time of Christ 
and the Apostles. 

Active Human Power. The Romans represented the 
idea of active human power in the ancient world. 

The liberty is here taken of assuming that, under 
Providence, the history of each nation is, either con- 
sciously or unconsciously, the embodiment and working 
out of some grand idea. That idea once seized upon 
furnishes the key to the nation's character, conduct, and 
mission, and shows what is needed, humanly speaking, 
in order to commend Jesus Christ to that nation as the 
divine deliverer of men. 

This key to the character, career, and wants of the Ro- 



158 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

mans is found in the idea of power. In writing to the 
Christians at Rome, therefore, Paul is " not ashamed of 
the Gospel of Christ, because it is the poiuer of God unto 
salvation to every one that believeth " (Rom. i. 16). 
What, then, was the Roman idea of power, in its essence, 
modifications, and developments ? 

The horizon of Rome, broad as it was, was yet limited 
to this world. The Roman was not, like the Jew, the 
representative of supernatural and divine power, but of 
power natural and human. Even this lower and nar- 
rower domain he did not wholly appropriate, but leaving 
human power, as power of reason expressing itself in 
thought, to the Greek, seized upon power of will, express- 
ing itself in action, as his peculiar governing idea. The 
Roman, as such, cared little for distinctively supernatu- 
ral and spiritual power such as moved the Jew ; he cared 
as little for the logical and aesthetic power of the Greek ; 
his was the power of will, his the beauty of action, his 
the logic of deeds. He became, accordingly, the mighty 
worker of the world, casting up the highways across em- 
pires, and leaving behind him public improvements in 
every form and of a grandeur fitted to astonish the race 
to the remotest ages. 

Power in State and Law. The Romans embodied 
their peculiar idea of power in the state as the repository 
of law and justice. The will of the individual was lost 
in the will of the state, the Roman lost in Rome. Rome 
regarded the race as being in a condition of anarchy, so 
to speak, out of which it was her mission to bring it. 
Her power was power ordered and organized, taking the 
form of law and government, directing and controlling. 

Law, and duty, or obedience to law, were ideas com- 
mon to both Jew and Roman. But the Jew taught the 
world law in its statical, divine, and eternal relations. 
With him it was a divine precept revealed from heaven, 



THE BOM AN CHAEACTEB. 159 

pointing out the only way of blessedness and perfection 
for man here and hereafter, waiting patiently for man to 
come up to its requirements, and depending for its en- 
forcement, not so much upon a present hand of power, 
as upon divine sanctions drawn from prophecy and all 
the working of providence and from the distant future. 
It said to men : " God is long-suffering and can afford 
to wait ; but his law must be obeyed, for though the 
punishment of rebellion and evil-doing may be long de- 
ferred it will surely come at the last, since God is su- 
preme." The Roman, on the contrary, gave the world 
law in its dynamic, governmental, and temporal aspects. 
With him it was not a precept waiting for man to fall in 
with it, but the expression of a present force, the organ- 
ized and martial might of Rome, demanding submission 
and remorselessly crushing men and nations into its iron 
moulds. It said to men : " Rome is all-powerful and does 
not choose to wait ; therefore yield on the instant or die." 
The career of the Roman was, therefore, one of comiict 
and control ; war and law were necessary results of his 
nature. We are accustomed to say that he had a genius 
for war and government. 

The State, divine and universal. In time the Roman 
deified the state as the grandest concrete manifestation 
of power. It is easy to see how it came about. The 
Jew had only the one God of revelation, Jehovah ; the 
Greek had as many gods as there were qualities good and 
bad in human nature, and forces productive and destruc- 
tive in physical nature ; the Roman, at the first, accepted 
the gods of the Greek, but afterwards remade them to 
suit his own notions. With the growth of his power 
he outgrew them. Jupiter, Apollo, Bacchus, et id genus 
omne, became either insignificant or dead to him. The 
day came when an active, mighty embodiment of force, 
working triumphantly in the world's great changes, alone 



160 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

could claim his submission ; and then Janus, the god of 
war, was exalted to the high place. As the last phase 
of the worship of Olympus, Rome herself became the 
god of the world in virtue of being the mightiest thing in 
it, and Victory became the embodied symbol of national 
power and success. Rome thus became to the Roman at 
once the kingdom of god and god. 

The Roman had the consciousness of being born to 
rule the world. Under the special protection of his na- 
tional divinities he pushed his way to universal empire. 

The Embodiment of Natural Justice. In carrying 
out this mission the man of power became the represen- 
tative of natural justice in the world. In the early his- 
tory of the republic he was narrow and unpractical. 
His rule was then essentially one of caste, for it was 
only the Roman who was in compact with heaven, only 
the Roman to whom the gods of Rome vouchsafed special 
protection. It is true that the broader and more humane 
doctrines of Plato, and the marked providences which 
prepared for the Advent, modified and somewhat molli- 
fied his views at a later date ; yet it must still be ad- 
mitted that, at the time of Christ, with something of the 
same tenacity with which the Jew clung to the notion 
that he had exclusive claim to the blessings of the cove- 
nant with Jehovah, the Roman clung to the opinion that 
he alone was privileged and ordained of heaven to rule 
mankind. 

As his ideas broadened through contact with many 
nations and by long experience, his entire system of laws 
came to be mainly controlled by those principles of nat- 
ural justice which come out so clearly in the divine ad- 
ministration of the world. It was thus that in pushing 
forward the conquest of the world he became fitted to 
consolidate those conquests, and appeared at the last as 
the great organizer of the world into a single empire. 



THE ROMAN CHARACTER. 161 

The Ideal Roman. The grandest Roman, the ideal 
man of the race, was therefore the mightiest worker, 
conqueror, organizer, and ruler, — the man who as Ccesar 
could sway the sceptre of universal empire. Caesar and 
Caesarism were the inevitable last result of Roman de- 
velopment. 

II. The Key to Mark's Gospel. 

If the Roman was, as thus shown, the man of action, 
of law and justice, of state worship, of universal empire, 
these characteristics must furnish the key to the Gospel 
intended for him. 

Setting apart from all other men this man of power, 
— in the day when his splendid visions of empire had 
begun to fade, when disappointment and unrest were 
taking possession of his soul, and when he had been made 
to feel most deeply that natural justice in the hands of 
a human despot is a dreadful thing for sinful men, — 
the Holy Ghost proposes to commend to his acceptance 
Jesus of Nazareth as his Sovereign and Saviour, the ex- 
pected deliverer of the world. 

How shall it be done ? Evidently — according to that 
law of divine fitness manifested everywhere in God's 
working — in that way which is best suited to the char- 
acter and antecedents of the Roman. A Gospel for the 
Roman must be moulded by the Roman idea. 

Scriptures and prophecy, so potent with the Jew, would 
count for little with the Roman ; he was ignorant of both. 
Reason and philosophy, so convincing to the Greek, would 
be scoffed at by the Roman ; he had no appreciation of 
either. Before the beginning of faith he was blind to 
the grand doctrines so precious to the Christian. The 
Gospel for him must present the character and career of 
Jesus from the Roman side, or point of view, as answer- 
ing to the idea of divine power, work, law, conquest, and 
11 



162 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

universal sway. It must exhibit Jesus as adapted, in 
his power and mercy, in his mission and work, to the 
wants of the Roman nature and world. To the Roman 
these are the credentials of Jesus, no less essential than 
prophecy to the Jew, or philosophy to the Greek. With- 
out them there could not even be a reasonable hope of 
arresting his attention. 

At the same time, while making the most of every- 
thing correct in the Roman idea, the Gospel must aim to 
correct the errors in it, and lift it to the level of the di- 
vine idea. 

SECTION III. 

THE AUTHORSHIP OP THE SECOND GOSPEL. 

The divine adaptation of the second Gospel to the Ro- 
man race is seen in the selection of its author and in his 
preparation for his task. 

I. Mark. 

John Mark was the chosen instrument, in connection 
with the Apostle Peter. He was the son of an influential 
Christian matron of Jerusalem, named Mary, in whose 
house the believers at Jerusalem were wont to assemble 
(Acts xii. 12). He was evidently already known and es- 
teemed in the Church and identified with it, when Luke 
wrote the Acts of the Apostles, or that Evangelist would 
not have introduced the mother to notice by naming the 
son. 

Career and Character. He early devoted himself to 
the missionary work, accompanying Paul and his uncle 
Barnabas on their return from Jerusalem to Antioch 
(Acts xiii. 25). He also set out with these two men 
on their joint missionary journey (Acts xiii. 5), but 
turned back when they came to the more difficult and 
dangerous part of their work, and returned to Jerusalem 



THE AUTHORSHIP. 163 

(Acts xiii. 13). When they were about to set out on 
a second journey to strengthen the churches, and extend 
the Gospel, Mark was at Antioch, and his uncle proposed 
that he should again accompany them, but Paul, remem- 
bering his former ignominious desertion, refused to allow 
it, and separated from Barnabas when he insisted upon 
it (Acts xv. 37). 

This so pointed and vigorous rebuke seems to have 
had a salutary effect. We find Mark afterward at Rome 
with Paul during the imprisonment of the latter. The 
Apostle sends salutations from him to the Colossians 
(Col. iv. 10). In the second Epistle to Timothy he 
sends for him because he has found him a valuable as- 
sistant (2 Tim. iv. 11). In his Epistle to Philemon he 
mentions him among his fellow-workers and sends greet- 
ing to him (Philemon 24). 

The same Mark is also found associated, probably at a 
later period, with the Apostle Peter. He sends greeting 
by Peter from Babylon (1 Pet. v. 13). The traditions 
of the early Church affirm that he afterward accompa- 
nied the same Apostle to the westward, and even to 
Rome. After the death of Peter, he is said to have 
preached in Africa, especially at Alexandria, where he 
suffered martyrdom in the most terrible manner. 

In these facts are found clear indications of the char- 
acter of the Evangelist. Although the son of a Jewess, 
and bearing a name of special significance to the Jew 
(John, gift of Jehovah), it may, perhaps, be justly in- 
ferred from the prevailing use of his Roman name, Mark, 
that he was preeminently Roman in his nature and de- 
velopment. He was, like Peter, originally a man of ac- 
tion rather than of deep and abiding principle, a man of 
fervor and enthusiasm rather than of persevering effort ; 
but he was transformed, by the power of the same Christ 
who transformed Peter, into the man of rapid, contin- 



164 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

ued and effective effort in the missionary work of the 
Church. 

The change in character for the better is very mani- 
fest in what is known of his history. If, as has been sup- 
posed, the young man who followed Jesus into the city, 
having a linen cloth about him (Mark xiv. 15) was Mark, 
the hasty and impulsive character appears in both the 
following and the flight. It appears again in the ready 
entrance upon the missionary work, with Paul and Bar- 
nabas, and in the equally ready desertion. But the old 
enthusiasm revives and brings him back to Antioch 
again, and he engages anew in the work and makes such 
progress in energy and principle and steadfastness as to 
become one of Paul's most trusted and successful helpers. 
After endearing himself still more to the Apostle Peter 
in their mutual work across the Roman world, he at last 
bravely dares and endures the martyr's fate. 

Special Training. It is certain that his training was 
eminently adapted to prepare him to exert an influence 
on the man of power and action. 

Three men had to do chiefly with the shaping of his 
character after the Roman ideal. He was made to feel 
the influence of the gentle and merciful spirit of Barna- 
bas, whose fellow-worker for Christ he was in his early 
life. He received the impress of the tremendous sus- 
tained energy of Paul, whose companion he was in the 
Apostle's earlier ministry, and again at Rome during his 
captivity (Col. iv. 10 ; Philemon 24). He was moulded 
by the restless, unwearying activity of Peter, whose con- 
vert he probably was (1 Pet. v. 13), whom he accom- 
panied in his mission to Babylon (1 Pet. v. 13), and 
whose interpreter he was (according to the Fathers) in 
the mission to Rome in which the Apostle suffered mar- 
tyrdom. 

While being thus fashioned in character by these great 



THE AUTHORSHIP. 165 

Apostles and preachers, he was providentially brought 
into the widest and most varied contact with the Em- 
pire, in its customs and language, in its law and legions, 
from the centre of authority at Rome to its remotest 
limits. 

It likewise seems strikingly providential that one who 
had come so largely under the influence of the two men, 
Peter and Paul, who represented the Christian idea of 
the conquest of the whole world for Christ and the es- 
tablishment of his universal kingdom (Gal. ii. 7-9), 
should be chosen to write the Gospel for the Roman, the 
man of universal empire. 

II. Peter. 

But the instrument, so fitted in character and training 
for the work of commending Jesus to the man of power, 
needed still to be supplemented. Mark was probably not 
personally cognizant of the facts of the Gospel, save per- 
haps the later ones. Peter, the man of deeds rather 
than words, was therefore appointed to supply in his 
preaching, out of his vivid memory, and after his strik- 
ing manner, the materials for the Gospel, while Mark 
was appointed, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, 
and in accordance with his character and training, to 
give it final shaping. 

Career and Character. No more remarkable charac- 
ter appears in Gospel history than Simon Peter. Nor is 
there a more remarkable instance of the transforming 
power of Jesus Christ. 

The first words addressed to him by Jesus laid open 
his character, as he was at that time, and predicted what 
he should become through his acknowledgment of the 
Messiah (John i. 42) : " Thou art Simon the son of 
Jona," the hearkening, timid one, the unstable man; 
" thou shalt be called," and, according to the Hebrew 
idea, shalt become, " Cephas," rock, the stable man. 



166 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

Peter had the prime quality of the man of action, — 
his thoughts had the closest possible connection with the 
nerves of voluntary motion. With him for a thought to 
come into his mind was to have it express itself on the 
instant, at the end of the tongue, in the hand, or by the 
feet. He was the impulsive man. 

But in the earlier part of his career he had also a 
marked defect, which went far toward making his activity 
mere unprincipled and irrational motion instead of ra- 
tional, noble action, — the want of a settled purpose and 
grand governing motive pervading and controlling all 
the workings of his mind. Jesus, the Christ, was to 
furnish him with that, and thus to change the unstable 
Simon Jona into the stable Cephas. 

In his early course instability, fickleness, was his most 
prominent characteristic. When Jesus came to the dis- 
ciples, walking on the water, it was Peter that made 
haste to meet him, but whose faith failed on the instant 
(Matt. xiv. 28-31). It was Peter who, in Christ's ex- 
tremity, declared that he would die rather than forsake 
his Master, but who in the midst of peril denied him 
thrice and with added profanity before the cock crew 
(Matt. xxvi. 33-35, 69-75). It was the impulsive Peter 
who ran to the sepuchre, at the report of the women, and 
rushed past John into the tomb to examine the burial 
vestments (John xx. 3-10) ; but it was also Peter who 
in ten days was ready to propose a return to the old oc- 
cupation on the Lake of Tiberias (John xxi. 3), as if 
despairing of anything from Jesus of Nazareth. When 
Jesus came to the shore of Tiberias where the disciples 
were fishing, it was Peter who, seeing his Lord, jumped 
into the sea and swam ashore to him. After his Master, 
thrice addressing him as Simon Jbna, to fix the old sin 
and fickleness in his heart, had restored him to the place 
of grace and apostleship from which he had fallen, it was 



THE AUTHORSHIP. 167 

Peter who almost immediately asked that prying ques- 
tion, " And what shall this man do ? " which called forth 
again the sharp rebuke of the Saviour. Even long after 
he had entered upon the full work of an Apostle, when 
the question of the circumcision of the converted heathen 
came up, Peter was the waverer and Paul was forced to 
withstand him to the face (Gal. ii. 11 ; Acts xv. 7-11). 

Special Training. Nevertheless one cannot run in 
thought along his career without the growing conviction, 
that he made constantly increasing progress in stability 
of character and fixedness of purpose all the way to the 
last. It was Peter who stood up at Pentecost, and in 
that recorded sermon distinctly accused the Jews of 
murdering Jesus of Nazareth, and boldly proclaimed his 
resurrection and Messiahship (Acts ii. 22-36). It was 
Peter who in the days of persecution dared to defy the 
magistrates, at the peril of his life, in that noble asser- 
tion of liberty of conscience : " Whether it be right in 
the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto 
God, judge ye " (Acts iv. 19). It was Cephas of whom 
Paul wrote as one of the pillars of the mother church at 
Jerusalem (Gal. ii. 9). According to tradition, Peter, 
when about to be crucified, besought that it might be 
with his head downward, since he who had once denied 
the Master was unworthy to die as the Master had died. 
So fully did Jesus, the Christ, infuse into his soul that 
one grand purpose which came to control all his life. 

The remarkable development of his faculty for practi- 
cal work and organization is equally manifest. His quick, 
impulsive nature prepared him to be a leader of men. 
The infusing of a grand governing principle was also a 
requisite for leadership. It is evident that Christ took 
advantage of these characteristics and made him, in a 
sense, a leader in the early Church. The natural impulse 
to leadership comes out in such instances as Peter's pro- 



168 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

posal to build tents on the Mount of Transfiguration 
(Matt. xvii. 4), and to elect a new Apostle in the place 
of Judas (Acts i. 15-22) ; and in many of the incidents 
just referred to as illustrating his original character. 
The divine calling to leadership appears from the repre- 
sentative place given to Peter in conferring upon the 
Church the power of the keys (Matt. xvi. 18, 19) ; from 
the prominent place accorded him in the wonderful 
events of Pentecost (Acts ii. 14, 38) ; and from the in- 
spired acknowledgment of his relation to the Jewish 
world by Paul (Gal. ii. 7-9). It is therefore manifestly 
true that, as the Head of the Church has in all ages since 
selected and trained men for the special work of organ- 
izers, so in the apostolic age he selected and trained 
Peter for such a work. It was in this way that Jesus 
completed the character of Peter, the man of action. 
His thought still remained so closely connected with the 
power of action, the man the quick impulsive man still ; 
but the profound Christian principle which had been in- 
fused brought the thought to be always true, the impulse 
to be always right, so that consistent and continued ac- 
tion at length made him in large measure the genuine 
representative of the unwearying, all-conquering, all- 
organizing Roman. 

It was this Apostle, who loved action better than logic, 
who saw deeds rather than heard doctrines, who felt the 
need of earnest and consistent activity more than of a 
profound and harmonious creed, — this Apostle whose in- 
tense personal affection for Jesus had made him watch 
every act and gesture and look and word of his divine 
Master, — that was chosen to preach that Gospel which 
Mark was commissioned to record for the Romans. 

These two, Mark and Peter, formed the one perfect in- 
strument, the one complete medium for introducing Je- 
sus to the favorable consideration of the Roman race of 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 169 

that age. No other men, equally fitted for embodying 
the Gospel in permanent form for the man of action and 
control, can be pointed out in connection with the apos- 
tolic body. Neither of these men could have accom- 
plished the work alone ; for, even if Mark was of Roman 
birth and nature, he had not the facts of the Gospel ; 
and even if Peter was a man of action and trained as 
such, he was at the same time of Jewish birth and nat- 
ure. The two were indispensable. The impulse which 
led the Romans to ask for the permanent record of the 
Gospel, and that which led Mark and Peter to accede to 
their request, were both from the Holy Ghost, the Spirit 
of all wisdom and power. Doubtless, out of all the men 
of that age, the Holy Ghost chose the men best fitted in 
their character and experience to prepare and write the 
Gospel for the Roman world. 



CHAPTER II. 

CRITICAL VIEW OF THE ROMAN ADAPTATION OF THE 
SECOND GOSPEL. 

In examining the second Gospel, in the light of its 
ascertained origin, design, and authorship, its peculiar 
adaptation to the needs of the Roman of that age will 
become apparent. The order adopted in treating of the 
first Gospel will be followed in treating of the second. 

sectiox i. 

THE ROMAN" ADAPTATION IN THE GENERAL PLAN" OF 
THE SECOND GOSPEL. 

The propriety of seeking for a plan of the Evangelist, 
different from that given by the division into sixteen 



170 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

chapters, has already been shown, in preparing the way 
for the analysis of Matthew's Gospel. 

By examining the second Gospel with the aid of its 
known origin and aim, it will be seen that it may be nat- 
urally and conveniently divided, as that of Matthew was 
divided, into three principal parts, — presenting the suc- 
cessive stages of the work of Jesus, the Divine Con- 
queror, in establishing his universal empire, the kingdom 
of God, — with an appropriate introduction and conclu- 
sion. 

In these divisions the character and career of Jesus are 
unfolded, not from the Jewish point of view, but in those 
aspects which are peculiarly Roman. 



OUTLINE OF THE SECOND GOSPEL. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The Advent of the King and Conqueror. The Evan- 
gelist brings forward the Almighty King in his Divine 
Person and Kingdom, i. 1-ii. 12. 

Section 1. Jesus is exhibited as being the Divine Son 
of God. i. 1-13. 

A. In his name and heralding. 1-8. 

B. In his divine recognition at the baptism, and in 
Jie subjection of Satan, the wild beasts, and the angelic 
world, at the temptation. 9-13. 

Section 2. Jesus is exhibited mightily proclaiming the 
kingdom of power, i. 14— ii. 12. 

A. In his opening proclamation of the kingdom of God 
in Galilee, and the call of the first subjects, i. 14-20. 

B. In his opening works of power in Galilee, rising 
gradually to the authoritative pardon of sin, foreshadow- 
ing the future of the kingdom, and rousing the people. 
i. 21-ii. 12. 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 171 

a. The authoritative teaching in the synagogue at Ca- 
pernaum, the manifold works of power there, and the 
rising fame. i. 21—34. 

5. The morning of solitary prayer, followed by the 
circuit of Galilee, with innumerable works of power, re- 
sulting in blazing abroad his fame. i. 35-45. 

c. The subsequent return to Capernaum, the preaching 
of the word, the assumption of the divine prerogative of 
forgiving sin, amazing the people and leading them to 
glorify God. ii. 1-12. 

PART I. 

The Conflict of the Almighty King. The Evangelist 
exhibits Jesus in the teaching, work, and conflict of the 
period of public ministry devoted to the continued pro- 
clamation of the coming Kingdom of Power, ii. 13- 
viii. 26. 

Section 1. He presents the teachings of Jesus con- 
cerning the foundations of the kingdom of God. ii. 13- 
v. 43. 

A. In the subjects and law of the kingdom, ii. 13- 
iii. 35. 

a. They are sinners, and not formalist Pharisees, ii. 
13-iii. 12. 

b. The first subjects are called out of all classes, and 
include all those whose law is the will of the Father, iii. 
13-35. 

B. In the law of growth and development in the king- 
dom, iv. 1-34. 

a. By the quiet outgrowth of truth in the heart (the 
Sower). 1-25. 

b. Yet independent of the will and effort of man (the 
Seed-corn). 26-29. 

c. And destined to fill the whole earth with its great- 
ness (the Mustard-seed). 30-34. 



172 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

C. In the power of the King, who is omnipotent, iv. 
35-v. 43. 

a. Power over nature, in stilling the storm, iv. 35-41. 

b. Power over the world of spirits and of irrational 
beings, in healing the Gadarene demoniac and destroying 
the swine, v. 1-20. 

c. Power over the kingdom of disease and death, in 
healing the woman with the issue of blood, and in rais- 
ing the daughter of Jairus. v. 21-43. 

Section 2. He presents Jesus, in the activity of the 
work of the kingdom, passing through a series of con- 
flicts and withdrawals, vi. 1-viii. 26. 

A. Conflict in Nazareth with his old neighbors, leaving 
them in unbelief, vi. 1-6 (a). 

B. Conflict in Galilee, in connection with the mission 
of the Twelve, and resulting in withdrawal across the 
Sea of Galilee, vi. 6 (b)-52. 

a. The mission and work of the Twelve. 6 (b)-13. 

b. The terror of Herod at the report of it, and the 
reason for that terror. 14-29. 

c. The return and withdrawal of the Twelve, with 
the symbolical miracles of power and mercy, — the 
loaves and fishes and walking upon the storm-tossed lake. 
30-52. 

C. Conflict renewed in Galilee (in Gennesaret), re- 
sulting in rejection by Jerusalem Scribes and Pharisees 
and withdrawal to Gentile borders, vi. 53-viii. 9. 

a. The return to Gennesaret, the miracles, and the con- 
troversy concerning unwashen hands, vi. 53-vii. 23. 

b. The withdrawal to the Gentiles, and the miracles 
of grace, in healing the daughter of the Syro-Phenician 
woman in the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and in restor- 
ing the deaf and dumb man and feeding the four thou- 
sand beyond the Sea of Galilee, vii. 24-viii. 9. 

D. Conflict renewed in Galilee, in Dalmanutha, with 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 173 

the local Pharisees, and the withdrawal and work of 
mercy on the blind man in Bethsaida Julias, yiii. 10— 
26. 

part n. 

The Claim of the Almighty King. The Evangelist 
exhibits Jesus, the Almighty Conqueror, as distinctly 
claiming the right to the Kingdom of Power, to be won 
through suffering and rejection, and both explaining and 
maintaining his claim, viii. 27-xiii. 37. 

Section 1. He presents Jesus teaching his followers 
that the kingdom is to be won by triumph over suffering 
and death, viii. 27-x. 45. 

A. In a first revelation, occasioned by the confession 
of Peter, foretelling the rejection of " the son of man " 
by the Jewish Sanhedrim, followed by exhibitions of di- 
vine glory, and by exertions of divine power which are 
traced to the secret source of all power, viii. 27-ix. 29. 

B. In a second revelation, foretelling the treachery of 
his own followers, and followed by a period of instruction 
in the duties of subjects in the kingdom, ix. 30-x. 31. 

C. In a third revelation, foretelling his death by the 
Roman rulers, and followed by instruction concerning 
the way for the subjects to rise to power in the kingdom. 
x. 32-45. 

Section 2. He presents Jesus claiming the right to 
the kingdom of power, in the city of David, and estab- 
lishing his claim, although rejected by the Jews. x. 46- 
xiii. 37. 

A. In his public advent as the almighty heir of Da- 
vid, and in the accompanying works of power, x. 46- 
xi. 26. 

a. At Jericho listening to the appeal of Bartimeus. 
x. 46-52. 

b. At the triumphal entry into the Holy City. xi. 1- 
10. 



174 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

c. In cursing the fig-tree and assuming royal authority 
in the temple, and in revealing anew the source of all 
true power, xi. 11-26. 

B. In his conflict with and overwhelming triumph over 
the various leading classes, xi. 27-xii. 44. 

a. Jesus on the defensive, — against the Sanhedrim, 
the Pharisees and Herodians, the Sadducees and the 
Scribes, xi. 27-xii. 34. 

b. Jesus taking the offensive, warning against the doc- 
trine of the Scribes, and contrasting with their religion 
the genuine piety of the poor widow, xii. 35-44. 

C. In his prophetic unfolding, for his disciples, of both 
the near and remote future of Jerusalem and his king- 
dom, xiii. 1-37. 

a. The events preceding the future coming. 1-23. 

b. The coming of the king in power and glory and the 
urgent call for watchfulness and prayerfulness. 24-37. 

PART in. 

The Sacrifice of the Almighty King. The Evan- 
gelist exhibits Jesus, preparing for the setting up of the 
Kingdom of Power through his sacrificial sufferings and 
death, xiv. 1-xv. 47. 

Section 1. He presents the preliminary preparation 
for his death, xiv. 1-41. 

A. In the plotting of the Sanhedrim, the anointing for 
the burial, and the treachery of Judas. 1-11. 

B. In the Passover supper, when Jesus puts himself 
symbolically in the place of the paschal sacrifice. 12-26. 

C. In the sorrow over the foreseen desertion, and in 
the struggle with the terrors of death in Gethsemane. 
27-41. 

Section 2. He presents Jesus in the hands of his 
enemies, the sinful leaders and rulers of the Jewish na- 
tion, xiv. 42-xv. 47. 



THE CENTRAL IDEA. 175 

A. In his betrayal and apprehension, xiv. 42-52. 

B. In his trial before the Sanhedrim. 53-72. 

C. In his trial and delivering up by Pilate, xv. 1-15. 

D. In the hands of the executioners, the Roman sol- 
diers, — in the Praetorium, on the way to Golgotha, and 
on the cross. 16-41. 

E. Under the power of death. 42-47. 

CONCLUSION. 

The Universal Empire established. The Evan- 
gelist exhibits Jesus, the Almighty King, conquering 
death and taking the universal Kingdom, xvi. 1-20. 

Section 1. He presents him as rising from the dead 
and convincing his disciples of his identity, xvi. 1-14. 

Section 2. He presents him as actually establishing 
the universal kingdom, xv. 15-20. 

A. In the Great Commission with its promise of grace. 
15-18. 

B. In the assumption of divine authority in heaven. 19. 

C. In cooperating with his disciples in the fulfillment 
of the Great Commission. 20. 

SECTION H. 

THE SOMAN - ADAPTATION IN THE CENTKAX IDEA OP 
THE SECOND GOSPEL. 

The outline thus given may be left to witness for itself 
that the second Gospel was prepared by Mark for Roman 
readers. In connection with its systematic exhibition of 
the material of the Gospel, it may more readily be shown 
how the central idea and general drift of Mark's produc- 
tion confirm the historical testimony regarding the Ro- 
man aim of the Evangelist. 



176 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

I. The Central Idea, 

It is a principle, now coming to be generally admitted, 
that in all literature the organic idea will give shape to 
the characters, incidents, metaphors, diction, and phrase- 
ology, — to the entire tone and tenor of a production, — 
a principle that holds not less clearly in Matthew's or 
Mark's Gospel than in Shakespeare's Hamlet. One of 
the very first inquiries, therefore, must be : What is the 
central or organic idea of the second Gospel ? 

The central idea of the Gospel according to Mark is 
found in the opening verse : " The Gospel of Jesus 
Christ the Son of God (Mark i. 1). The Evangelist, 
accordingly, presents Jesus, not as the fulfillment of a past 
divine revelation, as does Matthew ; nor as the satisfac- 
tion of present human yearning, as does Luke ; nor as the 
foundation of the future Church, as does John ; but as 
the personal embodiment of the Son of God, in the full- 
ness of his present, living energy, demonstrating himself 
the Son of God by his divine working. Everything, from 
the opening with the mission of the Baptist to the closing 
vision of Jesus exalted to the throne of God, is so shaped 
as to deepen the impression of his almighty power. 

This Gospel represents him as proclaiming and estab- 
lishing a kingdom, but it is a kingdom of power, and not 
of prophecy. While, therefore, Mark has so much in com- 
mon with Matthew that many insist that he is a mere 
copyist or abridger, there is yet this wide difference, that 
whereas Matthew rests wholly on prophecy, Mark is so 
entirely independent of prophecy that, after the opening 
verses, he never even records the words of a prophet, ex- 
cept as he quotes from the mouth of Jesus. 

For the Roman, the mighty worker and conqueror of 
the world, Jesus is held up as the divine almighty worker 
and victor. While Matthew furnishes us with the an- 



THE CENTRAL IDEA. 177 

cient types of Christianity, Luke with its inmost con- 
nection with the unchanging heart of humanity, and John 
with its deeper spiritual mysteries, Mark holds up " the 
picture of the sovereign power of Jesus, battling with 
evil among men swayed to and fro with tumultuous pas- 
sions." 

Lange, in the Introduction to his Commentary on this 
Gospel, .has attempted — and with success — to show 
that the Gospel may be divided into " a progressive series 
of victorious conflicts," beginning with the conquest of 
the four chosen Apostles and ending with the final sub- 
jection and possession of the whole world. Through 
perpetual victory — victory even in seeming defeat, — the 
King, the incarnation of almighty power, moves on to 
realize the Roman ideal of universal dominion. It is 
therefore the almighty conqueror, and not the servant 
(symbolized by the ox of prophecy) as the allegorical in- 
terpreters would have it, that appears in Mark's delinea- 
tion of Jesus. 

But since the Roman had felt the crushing power of 
the iron kingdom and the remorseless cruelty of the fero- 
cious beast of prophecy, Mark presents with peculiar dis- 
tinctness the diviner aspects of the kingdom of God, — its 
spirituality and mercy no less than its power and right- 
eousness. This great world-conflict and conquest, so 
realizing the Roman idea and yet so surpassing it, is 
everywhere represented as carried on with spiritual forces 
and weapons, and for spiritual ends. In retirement from 
men and in communion with the heavenly world the king 
is girded for the battle. No noise of spear or battle-axe 
is heard, for the contest is waged against the devil, his 
demons and his human agents in the world. The re- 
moval of the miseries of the world is sought through the 
forgiveness and eradication of sin. The Conqueror 
crushes into fragments the old social world, but he 
12 



178 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

crushes it in mercy ; and he reconstructs it not as the 
Roman has done — in the moulds of resistless and savage 
justice, — but by the law of righteousness and charity. 
The false Roman idea of power, weapons, conflict, victory, 
and empire are discarded, and true spiritual ideas made 
increasingly prominent from the opening of the Gospel 
to the close. 

There are suffering and death in the kingdom, as in 
the earthly kingdom, but they are transformed. The 
suffering is not inflicted upon the vanquished, but en- 
dured by the victor for the sake of the victory of mercy 
and blessing. The death is borne by the conqueror to 
furnish the foundation and the beginning of a higher life 
of blessedness for all the king's subjects. To the Roman, 
with his deepening sense of misery under the stern reign 
of natural justice, as imperfectly embodied in Rome, 
Mark makes his exhibition of the kingdom of God in the 
fullest signification a Gospel, by portraying the career 
of the King and his conquering hosts as subordinately 
a career of humble service, of kindly ministrations, of 
boundless sacrifices, of cheerful suffering, and even of vol- 
untary death, in order to save the perishing race from its 
heavy woes. The complete triumph is reached in the 
final conquest of death and the world. 

In the great features of both character and career, 
Jesus eclipses all that is mightiest and best in the old 
Roman ideal, while at the same time correcting and 
exalting it. 

II. The General Drift. 

The influence of this central Roman idea is manifest 
throughout the second Gospel, in a general movement 
and drift quite unlike that of the other Gospels. 

Rising above all the details of the Gospel according to 
Mark, Da Costa has clearly pointed out certain pecul- 



THE CENTKAL IDEA. 179 

iarly Roman and soldierly features that characterize it as 
a whole. By a deliberate comparison he finds that its 
style bears a close resemblance to that of Caesar's Com- 
mentaries, — both exhibiting the same emphatic repeti- 
tion combined with the same rapidity of movement, the 
same copiousness of description with the same dramatic 
effect, so that even the word straightway (cufows) — 
which is so characteristic of Mark, being employed in his 
Gospel about forty times — appears in the writings of 
the great Roman captain in the ever-recurring celeriter. 
No work of old Roman, in short, was ever more Roman 
in its rhetorical movement than the Gospel according to 
Mark. 

With an aim differing from that of the present work, 
and yet in a form suited to the present purpose, the same 
distinguished author has called this Gospel, " The brief 
and terse narrative of that three years' campaign, so to 
speak, of the supreme Captain of our salvation — whose 
name from of old was Warrior as well as Prince of 
Peace, — carried on and completed, for the deliverance of 
our souls, the bruising of Satan, the glorifying of the 
Father, in his labors, his sufferings, his death, his resur- 
rection and final triumph." 1 

This moulding of the entire material by the Roman 
aim of the Evangelist may be traced through the Gospel. 

In the Introduction, Jesus is brought forward at once 
as the Son of God, and by a few rapid and graphic strokes 
is exalted to the very throne of the God of power. 

To follow these rapid strokes in detail : a mighty 
prophet appears to herald the coming of one infinitely 
mightier, the Lord ; at the baptism of that mightier One 
the heavens are rent open in acknowledgment of his 
Divinity ; and when the Spirit has driven him into the 
wilderness three worlds gather round him. John is cast 

1 The Four Witnesses, pp. Ill, 135. 



180 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

into prison, and the wonder-working activity of this Son 
of God begins at once. He proclaims the kingdom of 
God at hand. He calls men, and they straightway follow 
him. He enters the synagogue at Capernaum on the 
Sabbath, and at once begins to teach ; the audience is as- 
tonished at the authority of his teaching ; a demon recog- 
nizes his divinity and proclaims it, and is expelled by his 
power. Men are amazed at the omnipotence of his com- 
mand, and his fame immediately spreads through Gali- 
lee. 

And in this same life-like manner he is hurried from 
miracle to more notable miracle, from fame to more gen- 
eral fame, and from power to still greater power, until, 
in the space of forty-four verses, we find him exalted to 
the place of God, the righteous, moral Governor of the 
universe, forgiving the sins of the poor paralytic, while 
the people, in their amazement, glorify God, who is re- 
vealed there as they had never seen before. 

Although all the main facts of this Introduction appear 
in the other Gospels, yet it is as different from them all 
as if every one of its facts were new. Everything in it 
is familiar as possible, and yet the delineation is as vivid 
as if everything were strange as possible. Throughout 
there is just the logic to attract the attention and arouse 
the interest of the man of power, who is too much given 
to making history to stop to interpret prophecy, too much 
engaged in rapid doing to pause for slow philosophizing, 
and too much absorbed in reorganizing and remould- 
ing the present visible world to be disposed directly to 
give heed to the facts of an invisible and spiritual world, 
— just the logic for the Roman. 

Part First of Mark's Gospel, exhibiting the foundations 
of the kingdom of God, may be looked upon as corre- 
sponding in part to Matthew v. 1-ix. 35, to Luke vi.-vii., 
and to John iii. Comparing it with these, there is noth- 



THE CENTRAL IDEA. 181 

ing in it of that reference to Judaism as the basis of the 
law of the kingdom, in which Matthew abounds ; noth- 
ing of the philosophic presentation of the world- embrac- 
ing law of charity to which Luke — writing for the uni- 
versal man — devotes his space ; nothing of the theology 
of the new life in which John delights. In short, Mark 
drops entirely the form of connected discourse in which 
the other Evangelists present the fundamental ideas of 
the kingdom and gives the character of the subjects, the 
law of growth and the power of the King, by a rapid 
succession of incidents, parables, and miracles, in what, 
for ease of execution and vividness of effect, must be ac- 
knowledged an incomparable picture. 

In the Introduction and Part First, Jesus appears as 
the Son of God, wielding almighty power in its most tan- 
gible forms, in the former exercising the prerogatives of 
God himself, and in the latter demonstrating himself 
Lord of the universe. The Roman, the man of power, is 
thus as irresistibly attracted toward him, lis the Jew, the 
man of prophecy, is by the genealogy of Messiah and 
other opening features of Matthew, and as the Greek, 
the world-man, is by the philosophic development of the 
life of the marvelous divine man by Luke, and as the 
Christian, the man of faith, is by the different opening, 
concerning the eternal "Word, by John. 

Part Second, in delineating the kingdom of power in 
the activity of its conflict, still holds the attention of the 
Roman by miracles second in grandeur to none of those 
which have preceded ; yet, in the fourfold withdrawal 
from enemies, — from Nazareth, from Herod, from the 
Jerusalem Scribes and Pharisees, and from the local 
Pharisees of Dalmanutha, — it gives rising prominence to 
the spiritual weapons and influences by which the victory 
is to be gained, and which in the remainder of the Gos- 
pel are to hold the chief place. 



182 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

Part Third, with its lesson of conquest by suffering, 
records in its opening section, after the confession of the 
Twelve, the transcendent miracle of the transfiguration 
with its divine recognition of the Son of God, and also 
the healing of the dumb demoniac at the foot of the 
mountain ; but the spiritual element, exalted in the con- 
sequent revelation of the secret source of power in the 
kingdom in prayer and fasting, predominates from this 
point onward. 

The presentation of the public claim of the King in 
Jerusalem has at the outset the restoring of sight to Bar- 
timeus and the symbolic cursing of the fig-tree ; but from 
that point forward the miracles of power, — the healing 
in the temple, the healing of the ear of Malchus, and all 
the wonders that gathered about the cross except the 
rending of the temple veil, — disappear from Mark's 
record, leaving only the miracles of foresight. The 
scenes of the last days are left to depend for their im- 
pressiveness upon the power of the naked facts of the 
final struggle with the Jewish authorities and the death 
upon the cross, — facts depicted with the life-like touch 
of an eye-witness, and fitted to draw from every true 
Roman the exclamation of the centurion at the cross, 
" Truly this man was the Son of God ! " The narrative 
thus makes manifest that this Son of God, who wields at 
pleasure almighty power, is not to establish his kingdom 
by that, but by the ministrations of love, and the suffer- 
ing of death in the sinner's stead, — thus conquering by 
a new power infinitely mightier than that embodied in 
old Rome. 

It only remains at this point for the Evangelist to 
sketch the victory over death and the doubts of the 
amazed disciples, and the establishment of the universal 
kingdom by the new spiritual forces and weapons ; and 
this Mark does in the final chapter, the appropriate con- 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 183 

elusion of this Gospel, in which the almighty King is en- 
throned and the work of conquest organized and pushed 
to its completion. 

Ail this was just what was needed to commend Jesus 
as a Saviour to the Romans. It was, moreover, a true 
view of the man of Nazareth, in whose many-sided char- 
acter was found not only the Messiah, the ideal Jew, but 
also the universal Conqueror and King, the ideal Roman. 
This Jesus, the inheritor of all the true power and man- 
hood found in the Roman nature, and adding to this a 
divine power and manhood, is the Jesus represented by 
Mark. 

SECTION III. 

THE ROMAN ADAPTATION IN THE OMISSIONS AND AD- 
DITIONS OF THE SECOND GOSPEL. 

The Roman design of the second Gospel is manifest as 
well from that which the Evangelist omits of what is 
found in the other Gospels, as from that which he adds 
to what is found in them. 

I. The Omissions of the Second Gospel. 

It will be seen on examination, that Mark omits what- 
ever is distinctively Jewish, Greek, or Christian, and 
would therefore be of little if any service in his work of 
presenting his Gospel to the Roman. Any one even tol- 
erably familiar with the evangelical records will remark 
how very extensive these omissions are. 

From Matthew. As compared with Matthew's Gos- 
pel, which it most resembles, the omission throughout 
the second Gospel of the Jewish features will at once 
appear even to a cursory reader. 

The long discourses which make up so large a part 
of Matthew are not found in Mark. According to the 
testimony of Papias, Mark gives an account of " things 



184 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

both said and done " 1 by Jesus ; but the " things said " 
were rather incidental or brief sayings than systematic 
and extended discourses. The sermon on the Mount 
(Matt, v.-vii.) ; the charge to the Twelve (Matt, x.) ; 
the discourse to his disciples exhorting them to watchful- 
ness and activity in waiting for his coming to judgment 
(Matt, xxiv.-xxv.), are not in the second Gospel. Aside 
from the fact that the Roman appreciated deeds rather 
than discourses, these discourses would have been to him 
peculiarly devoid of interest, since they deal so largely 
with Jewish ideas, and aim so directly to correct Jewish 
errors or to guide Jewish life. 

Bat besides these great omissions, it has been remarked 
that there is in this Gospel a general freedom from Jewish 
references, and from everything that the Jew alone could 
fully understand and appreciate. 

There is almost nothing in Mark of the Messianic ori- 
gin and prophetic preparation of Jesus, to which Matthew 
devotes his entire introduction of more than three chap- 
ters (Matt. i. 1-iv. 11) ; and even that which does appear 
is with a different aim from Matthew's, — to give an im- 
pressive picture of Christ's opening work. John the Bap- 
tist comes forward in the wilderness in picturesque garb 
as the herald of Jehovah, the mighty coming Conqueror ; 
Jesus appears at the baptism and is acknowledged by 
God as his " beloved Son ; " and is then immediately 
driven into the wilderness, where Satan appears to tempt 
him, the wild beasts to terrify him, and the angels to 
minister to him (Mark i. 1-13). 

Mark omits the parables of special Jewish significance. 

Of the series of seven, delivered on the sea-side, only 
two are retained : that of the sower (Mark iv. 1-25), as 
containing a truth equally applicable to all men concern- 
ing the proclamation of the Gospel and the growth of the 
1 Euseb. Hist. Eccles. iii. 39. 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 185 

kingdom of God ; and that of the mustard-seed (Mark 
iv. 30-34), which exhibits, in a peculiarly Roman aspect, 
the world-wide growth of the kingdom. The remaining 
five, as meant especially for the Jew, are passed over ; 
that of the tares (Matt. xiii. 24-35), as representing the 
field of the Messiah's work as not confined to the Jews as 
they suppose, but as extending to the whole world ; that 
of the leaven (Matt. xiii. 33), as exhibiting the influence 
of the Gospel not as Jew-transforming merely, as the 
Jews thought, but as world-transforming ; that of the hid 
treasure (Matt. xiii. 44), and that of the pearl (xiii. 45), 
as representing that the kingdom of heaven is not to be 
found and won easily by the king as something embodied 
in the Jewish institutions, as the Jews vainly believed, 
but rather as something concealed from the gaze of men, 
to be sought diligently by the divine King and to be pur- 
chased by him at the greatest cost (John i. 11) ; and that 
of the draw-net (Matt. xiii. 47-50), as teaching a mixed 
condition of things in the kingdom, rather than the ex- 
clusiveness of their own national election, of which the 
Jews boasted. 

The reader of Mark's Gospel will also note the absence 
of the numerous parables condemnatory of the Jews, 
found in the latter half of Matthew's Gospel. The Jew- 
ish lessons of these parables would have been lost upon 
the Romans. There is doubtless the further reason for 
their omission, that, as the parabolic form of instruction 
was adopted by our Lord for the purpose of partially 
hiding the truth from the blinded Jews (Matt. xiii. 10- 
16), it could scarcely have been at all intelligible to 
Romans, who were entirely unaccustomed to deal with 
highly figurative forms of speech. 

The same thing is illustrated by Mark's treatment of 
the first of the three series of miracles, given by Matthew 
to confirm the authority of Jesus as the Messiah, — the 



186 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

series designed to show the relation of Jesus to the Jewish 
ceremonial law (Matt. viii. 1-17). The first miracle, the 
healing of the leper, is recorded by Mark (i. 40-45) in 
bringing out the wonderful power and fame of Jesus, the 
Roman aspect of his work. The second, the healing of 
the centurion's servant, is omitted, as it chiefly presents 
the contrast of Gentile faith with Jewish unbelief. The 
third, the healing of Peter's wife's mother, with the 
added works of power, is recorded by Mark (i. 29-34), 
as exhibiting the excitement in the city and the marvel- 
ous power of Jesus over diseases, demons, and men ; but 
the reference which Matthew (viii. 16, 17) makes to 
prophecy is omitted. 

A notable exception to the general freedom of Mark 
from Jewish references appears, however, in the record 
of the conflicts of Jesus, with the disciples of John and 
the Pharisees, at the feast of Levi, about fasting (Matt, 
ix. 10-17 ; Mark ii. 15-22) ; and with the Pharisees 
about the desecration of the Sabbath (Matt. xii. 1-14; 
Mark ii. 23-iii. 6). It has been already seen, in the por- 
traiture of the Roman character, that the genuine Ro- 
man-born man was, on his religious side, the Pharisee of 
the empire, considering himself — as did the Pharisee of 
J udsea — the only favored child of heaven. It was true 
of his religion, that it was a mere empty form and tradi- 
tion, nay, more, an acknowledged hyprocrisy, for the 
priests of the Pantheon could not look each other in the 
face without laughing outright at the farce they were 
enacting. The Roman needed, therefore, to be taught, by 
Christ's treatment of Jewish caste, the true doctrine of 
equality on the basis of manhood, in the kingdom of God, 
and, by his treatment of Jewish formality and hypocrisy, 
the true doctrine of the spirituality and sincerity of the 
religion of the kingdom. Yet it must be observed that 
even these incidents are stripped of everything that a 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 187 

Jew only could understand, and the passage in which 
they occur is completed by Christ's demonstration, in the 
healing of the withered hand, of his Lordship over the 
Sabbath. 

From Luke. As compared with the third Gospel, the 
omission of the merely Greek features is equally appar- 
ent. 

There is nothing in Mark of the marvelous coming 
down of heaven to earth, and of that human develop- 
ment of Jesus as the divine and perfect man, to which 
the introduction of Luke is devoted (Luke i. 1-iv. 13). 
These matters, which will be seen to be of such absorb- 
ing interest and such eminent appropriateness for the 
Greek, were not in place for the man of deeds. 

The part of this material which Mark uses has refer- 
ence to the baptism of John and the temptation, and 
is all comprised in ten verses. In the record which 
Matthew makes of the Baptist's mission, the fulfillment 
of prophecy is the prominent feature ; in that of John, 
the testimony of the Baptist to the Lamb of God, the 
light and life of men ; in that of Luke, the salvation of 
God for all flesh is the new thought brought out ; in that 
of Mark, the mighty herald before Jehovah, the almighty 
conqueror. Equally characteristic is the omission by 
Mark of the human experience of Jesus in the tempta- 
tion, as given by Luke and Matthew, while he only aims 
to bring out for the Roman reader, in the most graphic 
manner, the situation of the Saviour in the wilderness. 

Indeed, the absence of those universal and human feat- 
ures, which will be shown to be so essential to the third 
Gospel, cannot fail to be noted throughout the second. 

The successive stages of the life of Jesus, upon which 
Luke dwells, are not even mentioned by Mark. Jesus 
appears at once with his powers full-summed and at their 
highest, and engages without delay in his work as the 



188 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

almighty Victor. For the Roman there is but one stage 
in his career. 

The entire ministry in Peraea, constituting almost one 
half of Luke's Gospel, and presenting the divine mercy 
in its most tender aspects to universal humanity, has no 
place in Mark. That which was fitted to move and 
mould the gentle Greek, with his thoughtful and beauti- 
ful soul, was not suited to influence the stern and martial 
Roman, who had in his nature as little as possible of 
beauty and sentiment. There are therefore wanting in 
the second Gospel the great parables of Luke, the favo- 
rites of all ages : the two debtors, the good Samaritan, 
the friend at midnight, the rich fool, the barren fig-tree, 
the great supper, the lost sheep, the lost piece of money, 
the prodigal son, the unjust steward, the rich man and 
Lazarus, the unprofitable servants, the unjust judge, the 
Pharisee and the publican, and the pounds ; besides the 
other rich instructions addressed to the heathen people 
in Persea, or the country across the Jordan (Luke ix.- 
xix.), and suited to the man of universal sympathies. 

From John. As compared with the fourth Gospel, 
the omission of the distinctively Christian features is 
apparent everywhere in the second. 

Strictly speaking, Mark gives nothing of the great 
Christian discourses that make up the Gospel according 
to John. In a missionary Gospel aiming at the conver- 
sion of the Roman, they would have utterly failed to be 
appreciated. 

These two Gospels have little in common save a few 
striking facts. These appear in Mark as facts in the 
wonder-working power of the conqueror, or as facts cen- 
tring in the cross and essential to redemption. The 
former kind comprises the feeding of the five thousand 
(Mark vi. 32-44 ; John vi. 1-14), and the walking of 
Jesus on the water (Mark vi. 45-56 ; John vi. 15-21). 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 189 

The latter kind embraces many of the incidents of the 
last Passover week, and some of those after the resur- 
rection. It will be seen, however, that the great Chris- 
tian lessons, which John connects with or draws from 
these facts, do not find place in Mark's Gospel. 

II. The Additions of the Second Crospel. 

The Gospel according to Mark gives equally conclusive 
evidence of its Roman aim in what it adds to the records 
of the other Gospels. 

A mechanical criticism has shown that, if the Gospel 
of Mark is regarded as made up of one 100 parts, 7 of 
these are peculiar to itself, and 93 common to it with one 
or more of the other Gospels. Substantially the same 
fact appears in the statement that there are but twenty- 
three or twenty-four verses in Mark which are not found 
also in Matthew or Luke. 

The historical origin of the Gospels, as already exhib- 
ited, opens the way to an explanation of the resemblances 
as well as the differences of the first three Gospels. Both 
Matthew and Peter were Apostles and familiar with the 
facts of the career of Jesus of Nazareth. Luke and 
Paul doubtless learned the facts and discourses either 
directly or indirectly from the Apostles, except so far as 
Paul was taught by Christ himself (Gal. i. 12). 

The verbal coincidences between the first three Gos- 
pels, which have led to the many ingenious hypotheses 
regarding their common origin, can better be accounted for 
without these elaborate imaginings. Mr. Westcott has 
observed that " they occur most commonly in the recital 
of the words of our Lord or of others, and are compara- 
tively rare in the simple narrative. Thus, of the verbal 
coincidences in St. Matthew about seven eighths, of those 
in St. Mark about four fifths, and of those in St. Luke, 
about nineteen twentieths, occur in the records of the 



190 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

words of others." 1 The recitative portions — discourses, 
parables, etc. — came from the lips of Jesus himself, 
were fixed in the minds of the Apostles, were reproduced 
in their preaching and embodied in the Gospels, which 
therefore could not fail to be alike in these respects. The 
narrative portions were given their shape in each case by 
the individual Apostle or Evangelist, and therefore could 
not but be different. There is, therefore, no call for any 
elaborate hypothesis. 

The extraordinary resemblance of Mark's Gospel to 
that of Matthew has led to three hypotheses of their 
connection : a first, that Matthew is an enlargement 
of Mark ; a second, that Mark is an abridgment of 
Matthew ; a third, that both had a common basis in an 
oral Gospel which existed in the Church at the time of 
their origin and from which they alike drew their mate- 
rial. 

But there is hardly a necessity for arbitrary conjecture 
in accounting for this most extraordinary resemblance, 
since history with the aid of common sense furnishes a 
far better explanation of the facts. Matthew and Peter 
were both personally cognizant of the great facts which 
they recorded, and they both first entered upon the work 
of preaching the Gospel to the Jews in Judaea. There 
is doubtless so much of truth in the theory of a common 
oral Gospel. The idea of power had its attractions, as 
has been seen, for both the Jew and the Roman. When 
Peter went abroad to proclaim the Gospel over the world, 
it was therefore natural that he should retain the exhibi- 
tions of the miraculous power of Jesus with which the 
preaching in Judeea had made him so familiar. It was 
equally natural and necessary that, in seeking to reach 
and influence hearers moulded by the Roman civilization, 
he should drop the references to prophecy which were un- 

1 Westcott, Introduction, p. 203. 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 191 

intelligible to the Romans, and give to everything that 
increased vividness and picturesque effect without which 
their attention could not be won and retained. 

From the small additions and large subtractions of the 
second Gospel, the mechanical critics have inferred the 
want of any great special significance of this Gospel. In 
their view it is the least important of all, in fact, of al- 
most no value to those who have Matthew's Gospel. The 
inference warranted is, rather, that the criticism which 
sees so little difference and is content with looking only 
at outward dissimilarity is itself insignificant and worth- 
less. 

A true and worthy criticism cannot fail to demonstrate 
that the number of verses in which Mark's Gospel out- 
wardly differs from the others is no proper measure of 
the real and essential difference. The score of verses, 
more or less, which he adds to the records of the other 
Evangelists, forms the least of all his contributions to 
the Gospel treasure. The greater additions will appear 
under the incidental changes and variations of this Gos- 
pel. 

But even the slighter and less important direct addi- 
tions may be shown to have aided materially in adapting 
the second Gospel to Roman readers. 

The portions usually reckoned additions to this Gospel 
are the following : the parable of the seed-corn (Mark 
iv. 26-34) ; the healing of the blind man of Bethsaida 
(viii. 22-26) ; the healing of the deaf man of Decapolis 
(vii. 31-37) ; and the form of the last commission (xvi. 
15-18). 

The longest of all these is the parable of the seed-corn, 
occupying nine verses. Mark has altogether only four 
parables, and this is the only one peculiar to his Gospel. 
One of the four, that of the wicked husbandmen (xii. 1- 
12), is introduced by Mark, as also by Matthew and 



192 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

Luke, in its proper place in connection with the series 
of conflicts in which Jesus engaged with the leading 
classes. The remaining three constitute Mark's group 
of parables. 

The three can best be understood together. They 
have nothing to do with portraying the world-wide 
niercy to which Luke's parables, occurring later in his 
Gospel, are devoted ; nor with the spiritual truth and 
the blessed relations of Christ to his people, which those 
of John exhibit ; nor with the inward, subjective influ- 
ences, to the setting forth of which a part of those in 
Matthew's first great group are devoted ; but are all em- 
ployed in unfolding the growth of the kingdom as an 
outivard, objective thing. The first (the sower) contra- 
dicts the false Roman idea, by putting the invisible, 
spiritual power of truth in the place of the visible, mate- 
rial power of the Caesars ; the second (the seed-corn) 
presents a development as independent of human will 
and as inevitable as that of Rome herself according to the 
most Roman conception ; the third (the mustard-seed) 
completes the sketch of the development of the kingdom, 
by depicting its rapid growth into that universality which 
Rome, alone of all the worldly empires, had even imper- 
fectly realized. 

The next addition, the healing of the deaf and dumb 
man of Decapolis (vii. 31-37), comprises seven verses. 
There is another, the healing of the blind man of Beth- 
saida (viii. 22-26), which is not unlike it. The two are 
among the most striking of the miracles of Jesus, and, 
through the symbolical acts connected with them most 
eminently fitted to make a deep impression on the man 
of deeds. In the former miracle, the great Healer put 
his finger into the ears of the man, and spitting touched 
his tongue with the spittle, by these signs to awaken the 
faith of the man and arouse his expectation of blessing. 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 193 

In the latter miracle, Jesus performed a progressive cure, 
— first spitting upon the blind man's eyes and putting 
his hands upon him, thereby bringing him to " see men 
as trees walking ; " and afterward putting his hands 
again upon his eyes, and making him to " see every man 
clearly." Both miracles furnish striking symbols of the 
dealings of divine grace with sinful man ; both picture 
Christ's saving power for the easy comprehension of the 
man of action. 

The last of these added passages in the second Gospel, 
the great commission, in a form quite peculiar (xvi. 15- 
20), presents not only the warrant of the followers of 
Christ for the conquest of the whole world, — the orders 
of the army of the great conqueror for its marching and 
action, — but also the promise of miraculous, divine coop- 
eration, through the exaltation of the risen and ascended 
Son of God with his Father on the throne of the universe. 
It closes with the record of the actual pushing out into 
all the world, by the followers of our Lord, of the work 
of universal conquest (verse 20). It is the true Gospel 
commission for the man of action and of universal empire, 
the Roman. 

Both the omissions and additions of the Evangelist 
were eminently fitted to commend Jesus to the Roman 
world of that age. 

SECTION IV. 

THE ROMAN ADAPTATION TN THE INCIDENTAL VARIA- 
TIONS OF THE SECOND GOSPEL. 

The adaptation of Mark's Gospel to the Roman needs 
appears even more clearly in the incidental variations 
and peculiarities throughout the entire production. In 
these features, as already intimated, are to be found 
Mark's most important contributions to the Gospel treas- 

13 



194 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

ure. He has added something of value to almost every 
line which he has given in common with the other Evan- 
gelists. By variations of incident, by touching, shaping, 
or coloring, and by new and fresh grouping of the facts, 
he has produced out of apparently old material an origi- 
nal Gospel, into the entire tone and movement of which 
he has infused, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, a living 
energy born of Jesus, the divine and almighty worker 
and conqueror. 

I. Incidental Variations. 

It has often been noticed that Mark's is the Gospel of 
minute and vivid details. 

Through Peter, whose amanuensis or interpreter he is, 
in a sense, to be regarded, the Evangelist takes the posi- 
tion of an eye-witness and ear-witness, and renders every- 
thing life-like by the thousand varied and delicate touches 
fitted to make past events become present realities again. 
In recording ordinary occurrences, while he omits much 
of the didactic matter preserved by Matthew and Luke, 
he adds some circumstance of condition or of place. In 
picturing the extraordinary events, he alone of the Evan- 
gelists dwells upon the looks and gestures and, in general, 
upon the outward expressions of feeling on the part of 
Jesus. In describing the miracles, he dwells upon the 
instrumental or accompanying acts. By these processes 
which the careless reader may pass over almost without 
observing them, the plain narratives of the other Evan- 
gelists are transformed by Mark into living pictures. In 
truth, he must be acknowledged as being, among the 
Gospel authors, the " exclusive master of the pictorial 
and scenic in describing what took place." 

Narrative Changes. This peculiarity of the second 
Gospel may be illustrated by any of the narratives given 
by it in common with some other Gospel. 



INCIDENTAL VAEIATIONS. 195 

The meeting of Jesus with the rich young man and 
what occurred in immediate connection with it are re- 
corded by the first three Evangelists (Matt. xix. 16-30 ; 
Mark x. 17-31 ; Luke xviii. 18-30). Only Mark brings 
out the earnestness of the young man by mentioning that 
he came running and kneeled to Jesus when he asked 
him the momentous question concerning eternal life. 
The touching incident, that Jesus, before pronouncing 
the decisive words given by the three Evangelists, One 
thing thou lackest, looked upon him and loved him, with- 
out in any wise softening the severity of his declaration 
on account of this natural amiability, is recorded only by 
Mark. He alone adds, immediately afterwards, to the 
follow me, which he has in common with Matthew and 
Luke, the important words, taking up the cross. As 
only Mark relates that Jesus looked round about, when 
he uttered those terrible words : How hardly shall they 
that have riches enter into the kingdom of God ! — so he 
alone follows this up with an account of the astonishment 
of the disciples, and the Master's repeated yet explana- 
tory saying : And the disciples were astonished at his 
words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, 
Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to 
enter into the kingdom of God ! And when our Lord adds 
that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a 
needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, 
and the still more astonished disciples say among them- 
selves, Who then can be saved f it is Mark who records, 
in the most forcible yet simple manner, that saying so full 
of comfort to the heart truly in search of salvation, in re- 
peating the expression of God's almighty power in man's 
salvation, for with God all things are possible. When, 
shortly afterwards, Jesus promises to the disciples, that 
whatever any one shall have forsaken on earth for his 
sake he shall have restored to him an hundred-fold, and 



196 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

that he shall receive eternal life in the world to come, 
Mark adds what might have been but too easily forgot- 
ten, that this recompense, in so far as this life is con- 
cerned, shall be coupled with persecutions. 

The account of the poor widow's mite is found in Mark 
(xii. 41-44) and Luke (xxi. 1-4). In the four verses of 
his Gospel Mark adds to the parallel account of Luke : 
that Jesus sat over against the treasury ; that he saw 
the people cast in their gifts ; that many that were rich 
cast in much ; that the widow's two mites make a far- 
thing (a quadrant, a well-known Roman coin) ; that he 
called unto him his disciples and told them that the 
poor widow had cast more in than all they which have 
cast into the treasury. Add to this the constant rep- 
etition of the words, cast in, and there is furnished 
the material which makes all the difference between the 
sober statement of Luke, designed to be read by the 
thoughtful Greek, and the vivid picture of Mark, de- 
signed to make the active Roman see the event itself. 

These examples might be extended to cover all the 
events which Mark records in common with one or more 
of the other Evangelists, and would exhibit throughout 
the same characteristic features that so adapted this Gos- 
pel to the man of action. 

Slighter Additions. The same distinguishing feature 
of the second Gospel may be illustrated by a large class 
of incidental additions made by Mark in connection with 
materials common to two or more of the Evangelists. 

He usually gives the names and surnames, and men- 
tions the relations, of the persons whom the other Evan- 
gelists mention more generally. The blind man restored 
near Jericho is Bartimeus, the son of Timeus (x. 46). 
The high-priest from whom David received the shew-bread 
as food is Abiathar (ii. 26). The Jewish name of the 
publican Matthew is Levi, and he is the son of Alpheus 



INCIDENTAL VAEIATIONS. 197 

(ii. 14). The sons of Zebedee are surnamed by Jesus 
Boanerges, which is the sons of thunder (iii. 17). Simon 
of Cyrene was the father of Alexander and Rufus (xv. 
21), one of whom seems to have been a well-known per- 
son in the circle of Roman Christians (Rom. xvi. 13). 

He takes peculiar pleasure in givirig the identical Ara- 
maean words used by Jesus. In the accounts of the young 
woman's restoration to life, Matthew mentions the bare 
fact, Luke gives our Lord's words in Greek, but Mark 
tells us (v. 41) that our Lord said to her : " Talitha, 
Cumi, which is being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto 
thee, arise." So in the account of the healing of the deaf 
and dumb man in the region of Decapolis (vii. 34), we 
have the word of Jesus : " Ephphatha" and have it in- 
terpreted for the Gentile reader, — " that is to say, Be 
opened." In Gethsemane we have the Syriac " Abba " 
(xiv. 36) ; and, in answer to the Jerusalem Scribes and 
Pharisees, the Hebrew " Corban" caught from the lips 
of Jesus (vii. 11.) The cry of agony on the cross is given 
by Mark in the precise Aramaean words in which it was 
doubtless uttered: " Eloi ! Eloi ! lama sabachthani f " 
By Matthew it is given in the original Hebrew — then 
already a dead language — "Eli ! Eli ! " etc. 

But this point is perhaps best illustrated by some of 
those characteristic details by which Mark casts a flood 
of light upon the daily life of our Lord. 

The account of the storm on the Sea of Galilee is found 
in Matthew (viii.), Mark (iv.), and Luke (viii.). Mark 
alone tells us, that " they took him even as he teas in the 
ship" (iv. 36), — that is, exhausted by his labors and 
without any preparation for the comfort of the voyage. 
All three of the Evangelists tell us that while the terri- 
ble mountain storm was sweeping down over the waters, 
Jesus lay sleeping in the little ship. But Mark adds a 
circumstance equally picturesque and significant : " And 



198 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

he was in the hinder part of the ship asleep upon the 
bench" — for so, as is now generally admitted, must the 
last word be translated. He lay sleeping upon the bench 
covered with leather, on which the rowers were accustomed 
to sit, and not upon a pillow, " No convenience brought 
on board for that purpose, but only what the place itself 
offered, served for some moments as a couch to him who 
otherwise, on his own earth, had not where to lay his 
head." 

Da Costa, who has given a detailed account of the 
characteristic differences of the Gospels, brings out an- 
other very striking feature in connection with Nazareth, 
the town in which Jesus was brought up. All the first 
three Gospels show that his doctrines and miracles had 
given rise to great astonishment and offense among the 
Nazarenes. Luke (iv.) tells us that they became so en- 
raged that they thrust him out of the city and attempted 
to cast him headlong from the precipice on which the 
town was built. Matthew (xiii. 54, 55) records the ques- 
tions of amazement, skepticism, and contempt : " Whence 
hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works ? Is 
not this the carpenter's son ? Is not his mother's name 
Mary? And his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, 
and Judas ? and his sisters, are they not all with us ? " 
But Mark (vi. 3) writes, " Is not this the carpenter, the 
son of Mary f This difference between the Gospels, ap- 
parently so unimportant, clearly reveals to us two striking 
circumstances in the private life of Jesus : first, that he 
himself, along with his father, and apparently until his 
baptism in Jordan, followed at Nazareth the trade of a 
carpenter ; secondly, that in those days Joseph, the hus- 
band of Mary, must have long been dead. And thus it 
is that the Lord from heaven, he by whom the heaven 
and the earth were created, is found in his human nature 
exercising a trade on this earth, and by that trade, that 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 199 

labor of his own hands, providing, as a son and support, 
for Joseph's widow, the daughter of David, whose eldest 
son he was according to the flesh." 

"Word Changes. The word changes, occurring in 
every paragraph of the second Gospel, bear the same 
characteristic mark of adaptation to the man of deeds. 
By means of these the expressions of the other Evangel- 
ists are strengthened and intensified and their bald state- 
ments transformed into living realities. 

Matthew and Luke tell us that at the baptism of Jesus 
the heavens were opened unto him ; Mark tells us that 
Jesus saw the heavens rent open (i. 10). Matthew and 
Luke tell us that after the baptism Jesus was led up, or 
led, into the wilderness for the temptation ; Mark says 
that the Spirit driveth him (i. 12). In describing the 
feeling awakened by the healing of the paralytic, Mat- 
thew (ix. 8) says they marveled ; but Mark (ii. 12) says 
they were all amazed (literally, beside themselves). 
In the description of the storm at sea, Matthew (viii. 24) 
says the ship icas covered with the leaves ; Mark (iv. 37), 
the ship was full. Matthew (xxvi. 37) says that in 
Gethsemane our Lord began to be sorrowful; Mark (xiv. 
33) uses a stronger expression : to be sore amazed. 

Mark likewise makes use of that repetition of words 
which is a form of figurative energy so common in the 
Latin tongue. This may be illustrated by such expres- 
sions as that used concerning the disciples, after the storm 
on the sea (iv. 41), " and they feared exceedingly " (lit- 
erally, they feared with a great fear) ; that used concern- 
ing the people when the daughter of the ruler was re- 
stored to life (v. 42), " and they were astonished with a 
great astonishment ; " and that used in speaking of the 
sin against the Holy Ghost (iii. 28), " blasphemies where- 
with soever they shall blaspheme." This usage may be 
even better illustrated by the emphatic repetition of the 



200 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

exact words and phrases. In this way the Evangelist 
uses the words cast in seven times, in giving the account 
of the widow's mites (xii. 41-44). In like manner he 
repeats the Gospel and the kingdom of God (i. 14, 15) ; 
the words eat and publicans and sinners (ii. 16, 19) ; 
and the word sea (iv. 1). 

These are only specimens of the variations that are to 
be found throughout the entire Gospel. The possessor 
of an English Harmony of the Gospels — still better, of 
a Greek Harmony — can readily examine them in detail 
for himself. They will everywhere be found to bear the 
Roman stamp. 

II. Other Peculiarities. 

The survey taken of the second Gospel brings to light 
other and incidental variations, not to be classed with 
those already referred to, but which can only be explained 
by the Roman aim of the Evangelist. 

Roman Assumptions. As already indicated, Mark 
has furnished the Gospel of action, and especially of the 
divine activity of Jesus. This assumes the point of view 
of the Roman, the man of action. 

Although so much the shortest of the Gospels, it has 
nearly as many miracles as Matthew. It deals but little 
with logic save the logic of facts. Mr. Westcott has 
called it " a series of perfect pictures ; " and again, " the 
living portraiture of Christ in the clearness of his present 
energy." The teaching of mighty fact everywhere out- 
runs that of verbal statement. 

Its very brevity, resulting from these characteristics, 
would, as Canon Wordsworth has suggested, " commend 
it to the acceptance of a great body of the Roman people, 
especially of the middle classes, engaged in practical busi- 
ness, legal affairs, commercial enterprises, and military 
campaigns, and migrating in frequent journeys from 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 201 

place to place. Such an Evangelical manual as this 
would be particularly appropriate and serviceable to 
them." 1 

It is true that Mark nowhere represents Jesus as 
being addressed as Lord — as the other Evangelists so 
often do — but the authority of Lord and God is exhibited 
in all his career as it is not by any other Evangelist. It 
is Mark that has given us the God speaking out most 
clearly through the man in all the relations of life. Tan- 
gible forms, material symbols, were a necessity in a Gos- 
pel for the matter-of-fact Roman. To him an abstract 
God was no God at all. While Luke, writing for the 
so-human Greek, dwells upon the perfect humanity of 
Jesus as it appears exalted into union with the Divinity ; 
Mark, for the Roman, strives to make visible through the 
manhood of Jesus, the invisible and Almighty God. 

The fact has been often signalized, that the second 
Gospel gives with special fullness many of the events in 
the experience of Peter. 

There are throughout abundant indications of the in- 
timate connection of Peter with its authorship. It be- 
gins with Peter's first acquaintance with Jesus, at the 
preaching of the Baptist. Simon Peter is incidentally 
seen to be a central figure in it, as may be shown by com- 
paring statements of Mark with those of the other Evan- 
gelists. Where Luke (iv. 42), writes : " And when it 
was day, he departed, and went into a desert place ; and 
the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed 
him, that he should not depart from them ; " Mark (i. 
35, 36) says : " And in the morning, rising up a great 
while before day, he went out, and departed into a soli- 
tary place, and there prayed. And Simon, and they that 
were with him, followed (Greek, hunted*) after him." In 
the narrative of the fig-tree that was cursed, Matthew 

1 Introduction to St. Mark's Gospel. 



202 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

(xxi. 20) represents the disciples as exclaiming, " How 
soon is the fig-tree withered away ! " but Mark (xi. 21) 
represents Peter as first calling to remembrance the curse 
and making the exclamation. Matthew (xxiv. 3) writes 
that the disciples asked our Lord about the time when 
the temple should be destroyed ; Luke (xxi. 7), that 
some asked him ; Mark (xiii. 3), that Peter, James, 
John, and Andrew asked him privately. While Mark 
alone adds that strikingly significant circumstance that 
the cock crew twice before the Apostle's conscience was 
aroused ; 1 he alone adds to the expression of Matthew 
(xxviii. 7), in the message of the angel after the resurrec- 
tion, that equally striking and significant closing name of 
the denier : " But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter 
that he goeth before you into Galilee (Mark xvi. 7). 

It is a still more striking fact, that things recorded in 
the other Gospels, which reflect peculiar honor upon Peter, 
are modestly passed over in this. Matthew alone records 
the attempt to walk upon the sea (Matt. xiv. 28-32). 
There is nothing said of the bitterness of Peter's weep- 
ing after his denial of his Master. 2 But most remark- 
able of all — considering the fact that Mark wrote for 
the Eoman, and that the later Borne built its pretentious 
and inquisitorial hierarchy chiefly upon this one state- 
ment — is the absence of the benediction given to Peter 
on the occasion of his explicit confession of the Messiah- 
ship and Divine Sonship of Jesus : " Blessed art thou, 
Simon Bar-jona ; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it 
unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say 
also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I 
will build my Church ; and the gates of hell shall not 
prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of 

1 Compare Matt. xxvi. 34, 75 ; Luke xxii. 34, 61 ; John xiii. 33, xviii. 
27 ; with Mark xiv. 30, 63, 72. 

2 Compare Mark xiv. 72, with Matt. xxvi. 75, and Luke xxii. 62. 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 203 

the kingdom of heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt bind 
on earth, shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever thou 
shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 1 Could 
anything more clearly mark the guidance of inspiration ? 
It seems like a divine protest and provision against the 
Papal perversion of the passage with its doctrine of the 
keys, that it should have been omitted in the very Gospel 
for the Roman. 

It is likewise worthy of note that Mark, in his treat- 
ment of themes connected with the geography of Pales- 
tine and with Jewish rites and customs, seems always to 
assume such a reader as the Roman undoubtedly was. 

It has already been made evident, that there is, in gen- 
eral, in the second Gospel as compared with the first, a 
paucity of references to all matters that would require 
a Jewish reader, or copious explanations for the Gentile 
reader, in order to make clear the point and drift of the 
narrative ; and as compared with the third, an absence of 
the accurate geographic and historic statements so neces- 
sary to the reasoning Greek, whose character would impel 
him to the mental reconstruction of the history and to- 
pography, but so useless to the Roman, intent only on 
the incidents themselves as exhibiting the power of the 
almighty conqueror. 

With Mark the full impression designed to be made is 
not ordinarily dependent upon a minute and accurate ac- 
quaintance with Jewish peculiarities and places. When 
explanations of such things are introduced it is rather to 
add vividness to the impression than merely to give in- 
formation. But that he does not entirely withhold such 
explanations because of the familiarity, either partial or 
entire, of his readers with matters essentially Jewish — 
as some one has asserted — may be seen at once from 
his record of the discourse about unwashen hands (vii. 

1 Compare Matt. xvi. 13-20, with Mark viii. 27-30, and Luke ix. 18-21. 



204 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

1-5), as compared with the parallel account of Matthew 
(xv. 1-3). Evidently the reader for whom Mark wrote 
that account was not familiar with Jewish customs ; and 
in this we have an unanswerable argument against the 
hypothesis which represents the usual absence of explana- 
tions as arising from such familiarity. The explanation is 
too elementary and superficial for the Greek ; it was not 
needed by the Jew ; but it exactly met the needs of the 
Roman. 

Roman Expressions. While all the features thus 
far noticed are best explained by the supposition that the 
second Gospel was written, as history affirms, for the Ro- 
mans, there are certain expressions and forms of expres- 
sion which are, if possible, still more decisively Roman. 

Of this nature is the employment by Mark of Latin 
words in Greek form, a thing which is nowhere else found 
in the New Testament. The paralytic when healed is 
commanded to take up his bed. Here Mark (ii. 12) 
uses the word Kpa/3arTov, the Greek form of the Latin gra- 
batum ; instead of the pure Greek work KXLv-q (Matt. ix. 
6), or kXlvlSwv (Luke v. 19, 24). In recording Herod's 
sending for the head of John the Baptist, Mark (vi. 27) 
uses the word o-7re/<ovAarwp, which is translated executioner 
in our English version, but which means a soldier of the 
body-guard rather. It is the purely Latin word specu- 
lator spelled with Greek letters. The word £«rr»f9 
(Mark vii. 4), translated pots, is doubtless simply a cor- 
ruption of the Latin sextus or sextarius, meaning the 
sixth part of some larger measure, and nearly corre- 
sponding to the English pint measure, mug, or bowl. 
Mark, and he only, explains the tivo mites of the widow, 
AeTTTot hvo (xii. 42), by the word x°P^P^ vry l^ a Greek spell- 
ing of the Latin quadrans, the fourth part of the well- 
known Roman coin, the as. The centurion who had 
charge of the crucifixion is called by Matthew and Luke, 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 205 

in pure Greek, eKaroi/Tapx^s, but Mark (xv. 39, 44) calls 
him Ke^rupiW, which is the Latin centurio in Greek letters. 
These Latin words would have been unintelligible to 
readers of a purely Greek culture. 

Of like character is Mark's use of the Roman division 
of the night into four watches, — evening, midnight, 
cock-crowing (Latin, gallicinium), and morning. An 
examination and comparison of the various Gospels will 
show that this is peculiar to Mark, the other Evangelists 
retaining the ordinary Jewish division into three watches. 1 

Such incidental features, the consideration of which 
might be extended indefinitely, can only be satisfactorily 
explained by the theory that the second Gospel was writ- 
ten for Roman readers. 

SUMMARY. 

From the point now reached, taking into account not 
only the weight of the separate indications of a Roman 
aim, but also the combined force of all the considerations 
adduced, the Roman adaptation of the second Gospel can- 
not reasonably be denied. 

It has been seen to be a historical fact, that Mark, a 
Roman in character and probably by birth, prepared this 
Gospel from the preaching of Peter, for Roman readers, 
the men who were the workers, conquerors, and rulers of 
the world. This is the stable historical basis of the 
theory. 

It has also been shown that the second Gospel itself 
everywhere bears the marks of its Roman origin and 
aim. This is manifest in its entire plan, which involves 
the presentation of the divine power and activity of our 
Lord, and which views his life as one career of conflict 
and conquest ending in the universal sway of the king- 
dom of God. It is no less manifest in the omissions and 
1 Compare Matt. xxiv. 42-46 with Mark xiii. 35, and Luke xii. 38. 



206 MARK, THE GOSPEL FOR THE ROMAN. 

additions made by the Evangelist, all of which have been 
shown to be explained by his Roman design. It is 
equally clear in all the incidental variations of the Gos- 
pel, everything in it receiving its tone and color from the 
Roman aim with which it was produced. 

It is not, therefore, too much to claim that the historical 
view combines with the critical, that Irenseus and Clem- 
ent and Jerome join with the general plan, the particular 
scope, and the minute details of the Gospel itself, in 
establishing the theory that Mark was originally the 
Gospel for the Roman ; and not too much to affirm 
that this theory furnishes the true key to the Gospel. 



PAET IV. 



LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

" Thou seemest human and divine, 
The highest, holiest manhood thou." 

Alfred Tennyson. 

" Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a dec« 
laration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even 
as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eye-wit- 
nesses, and ministers of the word ; it seemed good to me also, having had 
perfect understanding of all things (rather, having traced down every- 
thing) from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent 
Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things, 
wherein thou hast been instructed." Luke, i. 1-4. 

" Tertius Lucas medicus, natione Syrus Antiochensis (cujus laus in 
Evangelio), qui et ipse discipulus apostoli Pauli, in Achaire Bceotia?que 
(Bithyniaeque) partibus volumen condidit (2 Cor. viii. 18, 19), quaedam 
altius repetens, et ut ipse in procemio confitetur, audita magis, quam visa 
describens." Jerome. 



CHAPTER I. 

HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE GREEK ADAPTATION OF THE 
THIRD GOSPEL. 

SECTION I. 

OBIGIN AND DESIGN OF THE THIRD GOSPEL. 

What was the actual origin of the Gospel according to 
Luke ? For what class of readers was it originally de- 
signed ? 

Manifestly the third Gospel was immediately addressed 



208 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

to the same Theopliilus (Luke i. 3) to whom the Acts of 
the Apostles was addressed (Acts i. 1). The name is 
Greek, meaning lover of God. Who he was can only be 
conjectured. Some have supposed, from the meaning of 
the name, that it was used, not to represent any particu- 
lar person, but Christians in general ; others have con- 
cluded that he was probably an honored Greek with 
whom the Evangelist had been at some time intimately 
associated ; while most have agreed that he was onty the 
representative of a large class to whom the Gospel had 
been preached, and with whom Luke, under the influence 
of the Holy Ghost, desired to leave it as a permanent 
treasure. 

But although the Gospel was addressed immediately 
to Theophilus, yet, when the subject is investigated from 
the historical point of view, the statements of most trust- 
worthy witnesses make it sufficiently clear that Luke 
wrote it for the Greek, the representative of the Gentile 
world at large. 

"Witnesses. The first witness to the fact is Iren reus, 
who flourished in the second century, and was, in his day, 
the most celebrated teacher in that school of teachers in 
Asia Minor, which may be traced back to the labors of 
the Apostle John, and which was at once the most intel- 
ligent and orthodox of the early schools of Christianity. 
Irenaeus is a most competent and credible witness. His 
teacher was Poly carp. He received the great facts con- 
cerning our Lord and his Apostles as Poly carp had re- 
ceived them from the lips of the Apostle John. 1 

Iremeus, in the same passage in which he states the 
origin of the first and second . Gospels, declares that 
" Luke, the companion of Paul, put down in a book the 
Gospel preached by him (Paul)." 2 Farther on, Ire- 

1 Iren. Against Heres. iii. 3-4 ; Euseb. Hist. Eccles. v. 20. 

2 Iren. Against Heres. iii. 1. 



OKIGIN AND DESIGN. 209 

naeus states that " Luke, who always preached in com- 
pany with Paul, and is called by him i the beloved phy- 
sician,' and with him performed the work of an Evangel- 
ist, and who was intrusted to hand down to us a Gospel, 
learned nothing different from him (Paul)." 2 This tes- 
timony is confirmed by Eusebius." 2 

Origen, who flourished, as has been seen, in the first 
half of the third century, and whose wide and familiar 
acquaintance with the churches of Palestine and Asia 
Minor, gave him ready access to the best tradition of the 
early Church on this subject — affirms that the Gospel 
according to Luke was written for the sake of those 
Greeks who turned to the faith, and that it was also 
commended by Paul. 3 

Gregory Nazianzen, called also the Theologian, bishop 
of Constantinople in the fourth century, in his didactic 
and theological poems, affirms, for the edification of the 
Church, that " Luke, the companion of Paul, that great 
servant of Christ, wrote the wonderful works (in his 
Gospel) in Greece ; " and also " for the Greeks." 4 

Jerome, in the prologue to his commentary on the 
Gospel of Matthew, in recording his view of the origin 
of the four Gospels, says : " The third is that of Luke, 
the physician, a native of Antioch, in Syria (whose praise 
is in the Gospel) ; who was also himself a disciple of the 
Apostle Paul ; and who produced his work in the regions 
of Achaia and Bceotia, repeating some things more amply, 
and, as he confesses in his preface, describing what he 
had heard rather that what he had seen." According to 
another reading, the Gospel was produced " in the regions 
of Achaia and Bitliynia" 5 

1 Against Heres. iii. 14, 1. 
' 2 Hist. Eccles. vi. 25. 

8 Origen, as given by Euseb. Hist. Eccles. vi. 25. 
4 Carmin. lib. i. sect. i. 22, vers. 1 ; sect. i. 12, vers. 32. 
6 Hieron. Comment, in Evang. Matth. proleg. 3, 4. 
14 



210 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

Pertinent Facts. The chief facts touching the origin 
and design of the third Gospel, as presented by these 
witnesses, are, that Luke wrote the Gospel which bears 
his name ; that it was substantially that which he and 
Paul had proclaimed to the Greek world ; that it was 
produced and published among Greek peoples ; and that 
while addressed formally to Theophilus, it was really 
written for the Greeks as representing the Gentile world, 
and suited to commend Jesus to them as their Saviour. 

The main statements thus brought to light seem to 
haye been received, almost without question, in the early 
centuries of the Church. The witnesses are substantially 
the same as those cited in Matthew and Mark, and are in 
general the writers on whom the Church depends largely 
for the settlement of the historical questions upon which 
our faith in the canon of the Scriptures ultimately rests. 
The considerations already presented, touching their char- 
acter and competency, have equal weight in their appli- 
cation to the origin of the third Gospel. 

In fine, it cannot be reasonably maintained that their 
statements are not in agreement with history, and that 
they did not arise out of history. Luke undoubtedly 
prepared his Gospel for the Greeks, for the purpose of 
commending to them Jesus as their Saviour. 

SECTION n. 

THE CHARACTER AND NEEDS OF THE GREEK. 

If the third Gospel originated in the preaching of Paul 
as moulded by the agency of Luke, and was prepared for 
Theophilus as a representative Greek, and for Greek 
readers in general, then the character and needs of the 
Greek must furnish the key to this Gospel. 

What manner of man, then, was the Greek? What 
were his spiritual needs ? Correct answers to these ques- 



THE GREEK CHARACTER. 211 

tions will render luminous the Gospel prepared under the 
influence of the Holy Ghost for the Greek race. 

I. The Greeks. 

The Greeks are clearly distinguished from the other 
great historic races by certain marked characteristics. 
They were the representatives of reason and humanity 
in the ancient world. They looked upon themselves as 
having the mission of perfecting men. They were the 
cosmopolites of that age. They made their gods in the 
likeness of men, in their own likeness, and therefore joined 
to human culture utter worldliness and godlessness. 

Out of these peculiar characteristics, as modified by the 
age and circumstances, arose those spiritual needs of the 
Greeks which were to be met by the Evangelist. Along 
the line thus marked out must be sought the adequate 
understanding of the Gospel prepared by Luke. 

The Representative of Reason. The Greek was 
the representative of reason and humanity in the ancient 
world. Every great race shows some part of man's nature 
in unusual development. In the old Jewish race, the 
spirit, or that part of man which links him to God, was 
the predominant element. The Jew belonged to the race 
of Shem, which has never done what is considered the 
world's great intellectual work, but which has, neverthe- 
less, made all the grandest ventures out into the domain 
of the infinite, and as a result has given mankind those 
three systems of theism, — Judaism, Christianity, and 
Mohammedanism, — which contain the highest expression 
of the human soul from its spiritual and heavenly side. 
In the old Roman race, the will, or that part of man which 
pushes to action, and enables him to control and mould 
nature and mankind, was the predominant element. His 
herculean tasks and his universal empire furnish the 
highest expressions of the human soul as the repository 



212 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

of the energy for shaping the world to law and order. 
In the old Greek race, the humanity, especially as em- 
bracing intellect, taste, and feeling, was the prominent 
feature. The Greek belonged to that family of Japheth 
which has done all of what is usually regarded the world's 
great intellectual work, has given it all those grand secu- 
lar literatures which contain the highest expression of the 
soul from its human and earthly side. 

The Perfecter of Man. The Greek looked upon him- 
self as having the mission of perfecting man. Through 
all the ages, in literature and art, in statecraft and gym- 
nastics, he was working toward his one great idea of the 
perfect man. In his ideal, intellect and taste held the 
supreme place. His aim was not the beautiful man in the 
lower sense merely, but thinking, reasoning man, with his 
intellect full-summed, farthest reaching, most gracefully 
working. He accordingly bequeathed to the world the 
grandest models of beauty and of thought that the unaided 
human mind has ever produced. Counting the great 
poets of all lands and ages on the fingers of the right 
hand, Homer is among the number. Plato and Aristotle 
have contended until the present day for the place of 
authority in philosophy. Demosthenes has never yet 
been placed second on the roll of eloquence. 

The "Worshiper of Man. The Greek made his 
gods in the likeness of man, of himself. In his view of 
the universe, man was exalted above all other beings, and 
the Greek man wore the crown of perfectness. His 
religion was the highest of the idolatries, the most attract- 
ive of the polytheisms. The Hindoos asked men to 
worship monstrous emblems of physical power ; the 
Egyptians, life in all its forms down to the most repul- 
sive ; the Roman, Rome and the Emperor. The Greek 
was broader than all these, the Greek idea nobler. Hu- 
manity seemed most divine to him — diviner than all 



THE GREEK CHARACTER. 213 

physical forces, than all physical life, than empires and 
emperors ; man himself diviner than all his own works, 
and than all the world. The man on earth, with the 
grandest power of thought and beauty of speech and 
action, was the highest man for the Greek, and nearest 
the place which he thought the gods ought to occupy. 

The Universal Man. These characteristics of the 
Greek brought him into sympathy with man as man, and 
made him in the ancient world the representative of uni- 
versal humanity. The Jew and the Roman were by 
nature exclusive. The Jew could fraternize readily with 
him only who came from Abraham and received the 
prophets ; the Roman with him only who wielded power 
in the empire, or was born to a place in the empire. 
The full-grown Jew was a Pharisee ; the full-grown Ro- 
man a Caesar ; but the full-grown Greek was a world- 
man. Everyman had something — and that among the 
chief things in his manhood — in common with the Greek. 
Man is a thinking, reasoning being. He was made to 
seek the true, to love the beautiful, to sympathize with 
human kind. All men could, therefore, meet the Greek 
as they could not the Jew or the Roman. The Greek 
could meet all the world on the common platform of 
humanity as the Jew and Roman could not. 

The Worldly and Godless Man. It is evident that 
there were some fearful defects in that old Greek view of 
things. 

His religious system provided for taking out all the 
virtue from the world. The Greek deified all of man, 
— what was base as well as what was truly noble and 
godlike. To him, the passions — even to the basest — 
were as godlike as the virtues ; Venus and Bacchus and 
Pluto as much gods as Jupiter and Apollo and Minerva. 
It was the ever-recurring and always unsuccessful at- 
tempt of poor fallen man, unaided of Heaven, to make a 



214 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

god in his own image, that should satisfy the wants of 
his soul. His was a system that held, planted in its very 
heart, the seeds of moral decay and death, and which must, 
therefore, end in debasing man and in perishing of inter- 
nal corruption. 

It left no room for spirituality. In deifying man, it 
brought God down to the level of man and to the base- 
ness of man. Man was made in the image of God, and 
there is a sense in which he must make his god for him- 
self in his own image ; but he must do it by an upward 
sweep of thought, reaching the true idea of God by 
removing the limitations, casting aside the defects, and 
exalting the excellences of his own nature. The Greek 
attempted it by making his gods just like himself. 
There was nothing heavenly and spiritual about them : 
they were " of the earth, earthy." His gods made his 
religion base and unspiritual as themselves. His " sweet- 
ness and light " became the bitterness and shadow of 
sin and death. 

His religion had in it a kind of attractiveness, but it 
took all the grandeur out of the universe. Instead of 
seeing the supreme God and Father everywhere and in 
all things — shining in the beauty, dazzling in the glory, 
giving in the fruitfulness, speaking in the truth — he 
saw himself imaged there. It was man's universe, not 
Jehovah's. He humanized the clouds, the forests, the 
rivers, the seas ; peopled them with deities and half dei- 
ties, with satyrs and fauns, with muses and nymphs, each 
of which represented some side of man's nature. He set 
upon everything his own image and superscription. If 
there was any real and mighty God, any power irresisti- 
bly making for righteousness and yet overflowing with 
love, the Greek had pushed him afar off and out. At 
best there remained but a horrible dream of God in his 
conception of all-comprehending and relentless fate. 



THE GREEK CHARACTER. 215 

The altar " to the unknown god " became the only- 
Greek altar which was in any sense an altar to the true 
God. 

In short, the Greek theory blotted out the other and 
higher world, and left him utterly worldly, " haying no 
hope and without God in the world." This world was 
his province, his home, his grave. He sought his hap- 
piness in it. His only wish was that it might last for- 
ever. " The more the Greek attached himself to this 
world," says F. TV. Robertson, " the more the unseen 
became a dim world of shades. The earlier traditions 
of the deep-thinking Orientals, which his forefathers 
brought from Asia, died slowly away, and any one who 
reminded him of them was received as one would now be 
who were to speak of purgatory. The cultivated Athen- 
ians were, for the most part skeptics in the time of 
Christ. Accordingly, when Paul preached at Athens 
the resurrection of the dead, i they mocked.' This bright 
world was all. Its revels, its dances, its theatrical exhi- 
bitions, its races, its battles, its academic groves where 
literary leisure luxuriated, these were blessedness, and 
the Greek's hell was death. Their poets speak pathetic- 
ally of the misery of the wrench from all that is dear and 
bright. The dreadfulness of death is one of the most 
remarkable things that meet us in those ancient writ- 
ings." i 

II. The Key to Luke's Gospel. 

In the character and condition of the Greek civilization 
in the apostolic age is to be found the key to the third 
Gospel. 

The Greek thought and culture had been the common 
possession of mankind for four centuries, when Luke sent 
forth his Gospel from Antioch. It had done its best for 

1 Sermons. First Advent Lecture, " The Grecian/' 



216 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

the world in bringing the races together and preparing 
them for the grander Christian view of the brotherhood 
of humanity ; but it had, nevertheless, utterly failed to 
help the Greek to attain to his ideal of the perfect man- 
hood. The vices of the system had everywhere brought 
decay and corruption. The old faith in it was gone be- 
yond possible recovery. Its beauties and graces remained 
in the memory of the race only as pleasant dreams or 
poetic fancies. 

Its polytheism, as always, had brought dissipation of 
mind. When Paul entered Athens, he found that " all 
the Athenians and strangers which were there, spent 
their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear 
some new thing ; " and were ready to think him a " bab- 
bler " who should have aught to say of God and immor- 
tality. A thirst for something new, equaled only by the 
despair of the old, had everywhere taken possession of the 
mind of the age. 

The indiscriminate worship of humanity had ushered 
in the reign of materialism and sensuality, and the Greek 
had almost ceased to be more than a reasoning animal. 
The worship of the beautiful had ended, as always, in 
putting the accomplishments in the place of all manly 
and womanly virtues. In short, religion had become a 
mockery, and virtue had perished. 

There was nothing left to the Greek worth living for, 

— no divine fatherhood to bear him comfort ; no grand 
mission in this world to gird and train him to power, 
no golden age save in the distant past, no glorious im- 
mortality in the world beyond to open before him sub- 
lime reaches of progress and measureless heights of hope, 

— nothing but the earth and the present, with failure 
already crushing him, and death with its everlasting 
sleep remorselessly pursuing him. Utter restlessness and 
wretchedness had seized upon the greatest and purest 



THE GREEK CHARACTER. 217 

minds, and the old, undefined longing for some divine 
man was everywhere verging toward despair, save as the 
Jew had quickened and made it more hopeful by spread- 
ing abroad his idea of the Messiah, as the coming deliv- 
erer of the world. 

When the Gospel went forth from Antioch for the re- 
generation of the Greek, it found the world-language 
waiting to bear the world-religion to this longing and de- 
spairing but desperately corrupt race, and to all who had 
been moulded to its ways of thinking and living. 

It is, therefore, evident that the Greek must be reached 
by a peculiar presentation of the Gospel, a presentation 
shaped by thesetharacteristics in his nature and condition. 

As the Messiah of the prophets, Jesus of Nazareth had 
an interest for the Jew ; as the Son of God, the almighty 
worker and conqueror, he had an interest for the Roman ; 
but in neither of these aspects would he interest the 
thinking Greek. A Gospel for the Greek must be shaped 
by the Greek idea ; must present the character and career 
of Jesus of Nazareth from the Greek point of view, as 
answering to the conception of a perfect and divine hu- 
manity ; must exhibit him as adapted, in his power and 
mercy, in his work and mission, to the wants of the 
Greek soul, and of humanity as represented in it. It 
must present Jesus as the perfect man, to meet the Greek 
ideal ; as the divine man, to cure the wretchedness of the 
despairing Greek. It must bring God and the invisible 
world near, to meet the wants of the longing Greek soul, 
and elevate it above itself and into communion with 
God ; must open the eyes of the blind Greek to see 
the sinfulness of sin and the beauty and desirableness 
of virtue and holiness. Reason and beauty, righteous- 
ness and truth, dignity and earnestness, must be exhib- 
ited as they meet in Jesus in their full splendor, and 
his divine tenderness and compassion must have univer- 



218 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

sal sweep. It must open the way to a mission grand 
enough for man here, and must bring to light an im- 
mortality beyond. In short, the Gospel must meet the 
true and correct the false in the Greek ideal. 

Wordsworth has well said: " The universality of man's 
apostasy from the primeval Law of God ; the universality 
of the guilt of mankind ; the universality of the misery 
in which the human race lay ; the universality of their 
need of a Redeemer and a Saviour ; the universality of the 
redemption accomplished by Christ dying upon the cross 
for the sins of the world ; the universality of the Chris- 
tian Church, constituted by him to be the dispenser to all 
nations of all the means of grace flowing from his sac- 
rifice ; and the preparatory and transitory character and 
function of the Levitical law and priesthood, — these were 
solemn topics on which all men needed to be instructed, 
particularly the Gentile world." l 

To the Greek these are the credentials of Jesus, no 
less essential than prophecy to the Jew, or power to the 
Roman. Without them there could not even be a rea- 
sonable hope of arresting his attention, much less of lead- 
ing him to submit to Jesus as his Saviour. The Greek 
soul of that age furnishes the true key fco the third Gospel. 



SECTION III. 
THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE THIRD GOSPEL. 

The authorship of the third Gospel accords with the 
historic facts concerning its origin and design. As Mat- 
thew was eminently fitted by his Jewish nature and cult- 
ure to embody the Gospel for the Jewish race ; Mark, 
by his character, wide knowledge of the empire, and in- 
timate association with Peter, the man of action, to do 
1 Wordsworth, Introduction to St. Luke's Gospel, p. 161. 



THE AUTHORSHIP. 219 

the same work for the Roman race ; and John, by his 
rich and ripe spiritual experience and deep sympathy 
with his Lord, to do like work at a later day for the 
gathered Church ; so it may be shown that Luke, in 
connection with Paul, was just the man to give literary 
shape to the Gospel for the Greek race. 

I. Luke. 

Four things made Luke the proper instrument for 
this work : that he was of Greek origin ; that Antioch 
was doubtless the place of his birth and residence ; that 
he was a physician by profession ; and that he was the 
disciple and companion of Paul, the Apostle to the Gen- 
tile world. 

Trustworthy tradition, as preserved by Eusebius and 
Jerome, has it that Luke was a native of Antioch in 
Syria, or at least had his usual residence there, and that 
he was a proselyte or follower of Paul. Paul places 
him among those of his fellow-workers who are not of 
the circumcision, or who, in other words, are of Gentile 
origin (Col. iv. 10-16). Both the Gospel which bears 
his name and the Acts of the Apostles abundantly show 
that his culture was Grecian. He belonged to a pro- 
fession which was at that day almost exclusively in the 
hands of the Greeks. From the earliest times it has been 
the general opinion that he was probably a Greek pros- 
elyte, first to Judaism, and afterward to Christianity. 

Epiphanius asserts that Luke was one of the seventy 
disciples sent out to preach to the Gentiles in Perrea 
(Luke x. 1). Theophylact declares that he was not 
onty designated by some as one of the seventy, but that 
he was the one who, with Cleopas, met with the risen 
Saviour on the way to Emmaus. The fact that Luke 
alone describes the mission of the seventy and the jour- 
ney to Emmaus tends to confirm this tradition. It is 



220 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

certain that he was possessed of that Greek nature which 
would bring him into sympathy with the Greek soul, and 
enable him to understand its wants. 

That he was a physician appears from the tradition 
cited above, from the statement of Paul in the Epistle 
to the Colossians (iv. 14), and from abundant indica- 
tions of his knowledge of the profession, found in his 
Gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles. 1 This was an 
important element in his preparation for the work of 
the Evangelist of the Gentiles. His profession required 
him to be a man of culture, gave him influence with 
the more refined classes of society, brought him into sym- 
pathy with suffering humanity, made possible such a com- 
panionship as that which existed with Paul, and made 
him at once a fit amanuensis of that Apostle, and a fit 
co-laborer with him in giving the Gospel to the Greek 
world. 

It has been remarked that his Greek culture fitted him 
to prepare a Gospel, to which the objection, sometimes 
urged against the other Gospels, that they are the pro- 
ductions of ignorant and credulous men, cannot possibly 
apply. He was both able and disposed to apply to all 
the facts before him the scientific tests properly applica- 
ble to them, and he did actually apply those tests. 

His birth or residence at Antioch had a still more im- 

1 Luke constantly looks upon things with the eye of a physician. For 
example the maladies that are mentioned in this Gospel are described with 
more detail, and partly indicated by their proper technical names. The fever 
of which Peter's wife's mother was sick is spoken of by Luke only (iv. 38) as 
a strong, & great fever, in accordance with a scientific distinction still found 
in Galen. Several similar illustrations occur in the Acts of the Apostles, 
as in the Greek terms used to describe the obscuration of vision in the 
sorcerer Elymas (Acts xiii. 11), the disease {fever and dysentery) of which 
Paul cured Publius at Malta (Acts xxviii. 8), and the ailment (an eating 
by worms) of which Herod Agrippa died (Acts xii. 23). It has often been 
remarked that Luke alone looks upon the sins and sufferings of men and 
the scenes on the cross with the eye of a physician. See Da Costa, The 
Four Witnesses, p. 146. 



THE AUTHORSHIP. 221 

portant bearing upon bis mission. It was there tbat tbe 
work of tbe Gospel among tbe Greek Gentiles was first 
begun by tbose wbo were scattered abroad by tbe perse- 
cution in wbicb Stepben lost bis life (Acts xi. 19, 20) ; 
there that the disciples were first called Christians (Acts 
xi. 26) ; there tbat Paul was trained for bis life-work 
(Acts xi. 25) as tbe Apostle to tbe Gentiles, and sent 
forth to tbat work (Acts xiii. 1-3). Antiocb was tbe me- 
tropolis of tbe Seleucid dynasty ; in culture tbe rival of 
Corinth and Alexandria. It became tbe capital of Gen- 
tile Christendom, as Jerusalem was of Jewish Christen- 
dom. It was the city in which the great missionary 
impulse of that age was given, and in which tbe svm- 
pathy of Christianity with all the perishing world 
reached, under the fostering and moulding influence of 
Barnabas, Saul, and their co-laborers, its greatest breadth 
and depth. To live in Antiocb in that age, and to come 
into sympathy with the Christian missionary spirit there, 
would give an essential part of the preparation necessary 
to fit Luke to be the Evangelist for the Gentile world. 

Most important of all, in its bearing upon bis work, 
was tbe association of Luke with Paul in the actual mis- 
sionary work. When the call came from Macedonia, 
" Come over and help us," it came to Luke as well as 
Paul (Acts xvi. 10), and he was with the Apostle in 
that first entrance of the Gospel into Europe. All 
through the later missionary work of Paul, " the be- 
loved physician " appears from time to time as a most 
cherished companion and fellow-laborer, accompanving 
him in his most perilous journeys, 1 and standing by him 
in the critical moments of the Apostle's final struggle for 
the faith when all others forsook him (2 Tim. iv. 11). 

1 This appears in the Acts, in the use of the plural of the pronoun of 
the first person, ice, xvi. 9-17; xx. 5-38; and thence to the end of the 
book. 



222 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEKS. 

II. Paul. 

Paul, who played so important a part in the prepa- 
ration of the Gospel for the Gentile world, was pre- 
eminently fitted to furnish, with the aid of Luke, the 
complete instrument for that work. No more striking 
example of the fitness of the means devised for the ac- 
complishment of divine ends can be found even in Sacred 
History. 

His was the soul for the world- apostle. 

There are a few men who in grandeur of soul tower 
above all others. It is easy to pick them out along the 
ages ; in truth, the venerable names rise unbidden, — 
Moses, Plato, Aristotle, — any one can complete the list. 
Among these confessedly belongs the man Paul. The 
world may be challenged to find his superior in simple 
power of soul. Judged by the thought in his writings, 
he stands unsurpassed. There is nothing like them in 
iron logic, in profound insight, in comprehensive breadth, 
in all-embracing grandeur of view. There is nothing 
like them in their expression of a great human heart, in 
its compassion for man, in its love for God, in its devo- 
tion to Jesus Christ, — bearing the burden of the apos- 
tate and perishing Jew, reaching out after the dying 
Gentile, and in visions of the ineffable glory anticipating 
the ecstacy of heaven. Where in all the centuries has 
there ever appeared another such indomitable will ? 
Those best fitted to judge have not hesitated to affirm 
that, estimated by his work, Paul's was the grandest, 
merely human spirit that ever walked embodied among 
men. 

His was the culture for the world-apostle. 

He was born and lived a Roman citizen, — a free-born 
citizen of the one universal Empire of all ages, and so a 
citizen of that great world to which he was to bear the 
Gospel. 



THE AUTHORSHIP. 223 

His birthplace was Tarsus, which at that time, as we 
learn from Strabo, was the rival of Athens and Alexan- 
dria as a place of learning and philosophical research. 
The entire Greek civilization was thus opened to him in 
his very childhood and youth ; and one of the greatest 
authorities, Dr. Bentley, does not hesitate to affirm, that 
" as Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyp- 
tians, so it is manifest from the twenty-seventh chapter 
of Acts alone, if nothing else had been now extant, that 
St. Paul was a great master in all the learning of the 
Greeks." That was just the point where the culture of 
the heathen world was at its highest ; and in the full 
blaze of that Greek civilization, which even now fur- 
nishes us with some of the great models of poetry and 
the grandest models of eloquence, Paul was born and 
spent his early life. 

Born of Jewish parents, he went early to Jerusalem, 
the great centre of Judaism. He there became a disci- 
ple of Gamaliel (Acts xxii. 3), a distinguished teacher 
of the law, — doubtless the person of that name cele- 
brated in the writings of the Jewish Talmudists as the 
first of the seven teachers to whom the title of " Rabban," 
great master, was given, and who was also known as "the 
glory of the law," 1 — one of the seven preeminently wise 
teachers. Judaism, of his knowledge of which we have 
such evidence in his Epistle to the Hebrews, was un- 
folded to him, by this its greatest teacher, in its length 
and breadth and in its sublimest form. He himself 
affirms that he " profited more than all his equals in the 
Jew's religion " (Gal. i. 14). 

One other thing is needed to complete the view, — his 
relation to Christianity. Such was his situation in Jeru- 
salem, and such his connection with the Pharisee party, 
that he must have had extraordinary opportunities for 
1 See Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, article " Gamaliel." 



224 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

knowing the character, work, and fate of Jesus Christ. 
He must have been thoroughly acquainted with the sect 
of the Nazarene to be so bitter a hater and persecutor 
of it. 

]n accordance with a law of Divine Providence often 
illustrated in history, the man who was to combat the 
errors of the world was born and educated as a world- 
man — Jew, Greek, and Roman at once — at the very 
point in time and space where the brightest rays of Greek 
and Roman paganism and of Judaism and Christianity 
all converged to a common focus. 

His was just the human experience of salvation for the 
world-apostle, — the widest possible. 

He writes to Timothy (1 Tim. i. 15, 16), "This is a 
faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ 
Jesus came into the world to save sinners ; of whom I 
am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that 
in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffer- 
ing, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe 
on him to life everlasting." This passage sums up his 
qualifications as a saved sinner to preach salvation to all 
the lost world. 

He was the chief of sinners. His great soul and his 
great light together rendered it possible that he should 
be this. His obstinacy in unbelief, and rage in persecu- 
tion confirm the fact that he was this. True, men have 
attempted to explain away his words by making them 
merely an expression of his modesty ; but the attempt 
has been a vain one. If ever in all history there was a 
man who had no such modesty, that man was Paul. If 
in speaking or writing for his Master it became necessary 
to set forth his great work for Christ, he did not hesitate 
to declare, in the plainest and most forcible Greek at his 
command, that he had endured more suffering and labored 
more abundantly than all the other Apostles (1 Cor. xv. 



THE AUTHORSHIP. 225 

10; 2 Cor. xi. 23). If it became necessary to defend his 
apostolic authority, he was neither slow nor weak in 
showing that he was not one whit behind even the chief 
of the Apostles. Moreover, there is no consistent mean- 
ing in the passage in which Paul's declaration, that he is 
the chief of sinners, occurs, if it be not taken at its plain- 
est sense. The whole force of the illustration that fol- 
lows depends upon so taking it. One who will think of 
his mighty soul, with its world of light, and then look 
on him in his work of persecution, — as he stands, the 
master spirit of the hour, with the garments of the right- 
eous Stephen at his feet and consents to his death (Acts 
viii. 1) ; as he moves on his way to Damascus, with a 
soul " breathing out threatenings and slaughter " (Acts 
ix. 1) against the innocent Christians, — will not think 
it too much for him to say of himself by divine inspira- 
tion: " Of who m I am chief" 

He was saved by the greatest of miracles of grace. 
The story of his conversion is perhaps more familiar than 
almost any other in the Bible except the story of Calvary. 
All the features of the scene are familiar, — the company 
journeying toward Damascus ; the sudden light from 
heaven at midday, surpassing the brightness of the sun ; 
the voice of Jesus speaking with authority to his perse- 
cutor ; the answering question and response ; Saul struck 
to the ground, blinded, and overcome ; the three days of 
suspense ; the coming of Ananias as the messenger of the 
Lord, and Saul's baptism and mission, — even T child can 
fill up the outline. Saul, the chief of sinners, was saved 
and brought back to God, to appear as Paul the saint, 
prepared to do his grand work for the Gentile world, and 
to go up at the last to wear his everlasting crown of 
righteousness. Amazing fact, that he, the chief of sin- 
ners, was saved by Jesus Christ ! Jesus Christ showed 
forth all long-suffering in this man's salvation ! Who 

15 



226 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK." 

does not see the marvelous patience of God with Paul, 
the persecutor and blasphemer, the Pharisee of the Phari- 
sees, through those long years ? Has there been any- 
thing else equal to it in all the past ages ? And lest the 
fact should not be brought prominently enough before 
perishing men, this same story of Paul's conversion is 
written in three different places in the New Testament 
(Acts ix. ; xxii. ; xxvi.), that all the world may know 
it. 

The greatest of sinners saved by the greatest of grace 
was just the man to illustrate and to preach the world- 
salvation to the universal man, and to push the work with 
resistless energy out toward the ends of the earth. Who 
could so preach Christ to all men, even the worst, as he? 
Unlike Peter, Paul from the beginning had all the essen- 
tial requisites of the man of action. With him all 
thought was nearest possible to the powers of motion. 
With him the thought and motive were grand and the 
will indomitable even from the first ; but when Jesus 
Christ took possession of his being, the grandest of all 
thoughts, feelings, and purposes filled his soul, and he 
went forth an intelligent and divinely-guided co-worker 
with God in his infinite plan for human redemption, — 
to weep and plead and labor for lost men, under the deep- 
est possible sense of sin and salvation and under the 
greatest weight of gratitude that ever rested upon a hu- 
man soul ; to brave danger and death witli a purpose that 
never faltered because he had a profound and abiding 
consciousness that the life which he lived was the life of 
Christ living in him. 

Such was the great Apostle whose coadjutor Luke 
was. They went forth together to the conflict and con- 
quest, the hearts of both throbbing witli a sympathy and 
love that reached out beyond the Jew to all mankind. 

It is the unvarying testiuiony of the early Church, that 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 227 

Luke's Gospel originated in his companionship and work 
with Paul, and that it was moulded and inspired by that 
great Apostle, who combined the Jewish soul with the 
culture of the Greek, the world- citizenship of the Roman, 
and the undying devotion of the chief of sinners saved by 
grace. No other men could have been found at all equal 
to these two in their fitness for reaching and influencing 
the Greek world by the Gospel. 

Such a nature, residence, culture, companionship, joined 
with inspiration, fitted Luke to trace the life of Jesus 
" in its wide comprehensiveness, as the Gospel of the 
nations, full of mercy and hope, assured to a whole world 
by the love of a suffering Saviour.'' 1 Matthew, Mark, 
John, could not have prepared a Gospel suited to the 
wants of the Greek nature, for that nature was not in 
them ; the Holy Ghost chose and prepared Luke in con- 
junction with Paul for that special work. 



CHAPTER II. 

CRITICAL VIEW OF THE GREEK ADAPTATION OF THE 
THIRD GOSPEL. 

The complete adaptation of the third Gospel to the 
needs of the Greek world of the apostolic age will be 
made clear by a careful examination of the Gospel itself 
in the light of its origin, design, and authorship, as thus 
historically ascertained. 

SECTION I. 

THE GREEK ADAPTATION IN THE GENERAL PLAN OF 
THE THIRD GOSPEL. 

The suitableness to the Greek is to be seen in the gen- 
eral plan of the Gospel according to Luke. It may be 

1 See Westcott, Introduction to the Study of the Gospels, ch. iv. p. 241, 



228 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

conveniently 'divided into three principal parts, — pre- 
senting the successive stages of the work of Jesus as the 
divine man for the redemption of all mankind, — with 
an appropriate introduction and conclusion. 

In these divisions the character and career of Jesus are 
unfolded in their appropriate connection with the neces- 
sities of the world as seen in the representative world- 
man of the age. The historical personage, Jesus of 
Nazareth, is exhibited in the progress of his human de- 
velopment and of his work for mankind. 

OUTLINE OF THE THIRD GOSPEL. 
INTRODUCTION. 

The Advent of the Divine Man. The Evangelist ex- 
hibits the origin, development, and preparation of Jesus 
as the Perfect Man, for his work of Saviour of mankind, 
i. 1-iv. 13. 

Prologue. Statement of the literary aim. i. 1-4. 

Section 1. Jesus, the perfect man, is presented in his 
origin, birth, and manifestation to men. i. 5-ii. 20. 

A. In the previous announcement from heaven of his 
advent, i. 5-56. 

a. The annunciation, to Zacharias, of the forerunner, 
the Baptist. 5-25. 

b. The annunciation to Mary, the visit to Elizabeth, 
and the song of triumph. 26-56. 

B. In the birth of his forerunner, and the poetic 
prophecy of Zacharias. 57-80. 

C. In his own birth, and in his manifestation, through 
the angels, to the shepherds of Bethlehem, ii. 1-20. 

Section 2. Jesus, the perfect man, is presented in the 
development of his human nature under law, divine and 
human, ii. 21-52. 

A. In the circumcision and manifestation to the true 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 229 

Israel represented in Simeon and Anna, in the temple, 
ii. 21-38. 

B. In his visit to Jerusalem at twelve years of age, 
and in his later life of subjection and growth at Naza- 
reth, ii. 39-52. 

Section 3. Jesus, the perfect man, is presented in his 
special preparation for his work as Saviour of the world, 
iii. 1-iv. 13. 

A. In the work of the forerunner, John the Baptist, 
till the baptism of Jesus, iii. 1-22. 

B. In the descent, traced back to Adam and God. iii. 
23-38. 

C. In the temptation by the devil in the wilderness. 
iv. 1-13. 

PART I. 

The "Work of the Divine Man for the Jewish 
"World. The Evangelist exhibits Jesus as the fully de- 
veloped Divine Man, in his work of divine power for 
Israel, and in his laying the foundations of the Kingdom 
of God. iv. 14-ix. 50. 

Section 1. He presents the work of divine power in 
connection with the teaching in the synagogues of Gali- 
lee, resulting in rejection, iv. 14— vi. 11. 

A. In Nazareth, where his gospel for the poor and 
suffering is rejected with violence, iv. 14-30. 

B. In Capernaum and its neighborhood, where his 
works of power include the raising of the dead, the par- 
don of sin, and lordship over all the natural and spiritual 
world, — compelling the acknowledgment of his divinity, 
but leading the Jews to rage and plotting, iv. 31-vi. 11. 

Section 2. He presents, in connection with the work of 
divine power and mercy, the teachings of Jesus concern- 
ing the constitution and development of the kingdom of 
God. vi. 12-ix. 50. 



230 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

A. The kingdom of God and its constitution, vi. 12- 
viii. 3. 

a. Originating in communion with heaven, by the call 
of the Twelve, and the proclamation of its constitution in 
the Sermon on the Plain, vi. 12-49. 

b. Based on the faith of man (healing of the centu- 
rion's servant), and the compassion of Christ (raising of 
the widow's son), vii. 1-15. 

c. Embracing all classes : the people at large ; the 
Baptist and publicans and sinners, but not the Jewish re- 
jecters of the forerunner; the penitent sinner (the 
woman), but not the proud Pharisee ; the ministering 
women, vii. 16-viii. 3. 

B. The development of the kingdom, viii. 4-56. 

a. From the seed of the truth (the sower), viii. 4-18. 

b. Through obedience to the word of God (the coming 
of the relatives), viii. 19-21. 

c. By faith in the divine power of Jesus (the storm ; 
the demoniac and the swine ; the daughter of Jairus, and 
the woman with the issue of blood), viii. 22-56. 

C. The pressing of the claims of the kingdom upon 
the Galilean Jews and disciples, ix. 1-50. 

a. In the mission of the Twelve, and the resulting fame, 
withdrawal, and miracles. 1-17. 

b. In the confession of Peter, the attendant prediction 
of death, and the subsequent transfiguration and miracles. 
18-43. 

c. In the second prediction of death, and the rebuke of 
ambition and exclusiveness. 43-50. 

PART II. 
The Work of the Divine Man for the Gentile 
World. The Evangelist exhibits Jesus as the Divine 
and Universal Man, in his gracious work for the Gentile 
world, chiefly in heathen Peraea and on his last journey 
to Jerusalem, ix. 51-xviii. 30. 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 231 

Section 1. He records the beginning of the last jour- 
ney and the sending out of the Gospel to the Gentiles. 
ix. 51-xi. 13. 

A. The gracious messengers to Samaria and their re- 
jection ; the terms of discipleship laid down ; and the 
sending out of the Seventy (under the law of evangelistic 
effort), ix. 51-x. 24. 

B. Mankind but one family (the good Samaritan) ; 
but one thing needful (Mary and Martha) ; but one way 
of securing it, by prayer for the Holy Spirit (the disciples 
instructed), x. 25-xi. 13. 

Section 2. He records the portrayal, judgment, and 
condemnation by Jesus of the religious world of that age. 
xi. 11— xiii. 21. 

A. The malignant rejection of Jesus by the hypocriti- 
cal Pharisees, in contrast with the required confession 
(the dumb demoniac healed, and the dinner eaten with 
unwashed hands), xi. 14-xii. 12. 

B. The worldliness and covetousness of the Jew in 
contrast with the heavenly mind and the faithful steward- 
ship (the rich fool), xii. 13-53. 

C. The signs of the impending judgment of this world 
for sin and formality (the barren fig-tree), in contrast 
with the mercy of the kingdom of God (healing of woman 
with infirmity on the Sabbath), and its expansive and 
transforming growth (the mustard-seed and the leaven). 
xii. 54-xiii. 21. 

Section 3. He records the teachings concerning the 
number of the saved, — showing that the grace of salva- 
tion is universal to sinners, xiii. 22-xv. 32. 

A. The question, on the journey, and the answer, pre- 
senting the urgency of salvation (the shut door), and the 
bringing in of the Gentile and the apostasy of the Jews 
(the man with the dropsy, and the great supper), xiii. 
22-xiv. 24. 



232 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

B. The strict terms of salvation and the danger of 
losing it (self-renunciation and cross-bearing), in contrast 
with the free offer to all sinners and the desire of the Son 
(the shepherd and the lost sheep), the Holy Ghost in the 
church (the woman), and the Father (the father of the 
prodigal), for their salvation, xiv. 25-xv. 32. 

Section 4. He records the teachings concerning the 
life in the kingdom of God. xvi. 1-xviii. 30. 

A. It is a life of faithful stewardship in the things of 
this world, ending in the rewards of the heavenly world 
(the unjust steward and the rich man and Lazarus), 
xvi. 1-31. 

B. It is a life of forgiveness (the law of offenses), hu- 
mility (the master and servant), faith and gratitude (the 
Samaritan leper), and of waiting for the spiritual coming 
of " the Son of Man " in his glory, xvii. 1-37. 

C. It is a life of prayer, believing and humble (the 
unjust judge, and the Pharisee and Publican), of child- 
like resting in God, and of obedience and self-denial (the 
rich young ruler), ending in present joy and everlasting 
salvation, xviii. 1-30. 

PART III. 

The Sacrifice of the Divine Man for all Mankind. 
The Evangelist exhibits Jesus, as the Divine Man, vol- 
untarily suffering and dying for all the lost world, xviii. 
31-xxiii. 49. 

Section I. He presents the preparation for the sacri- 
fice, xviii. 31-xxii. 38. 

A. In the prediction of his death, the approach to 
Jerusalem, and the public entry as Messiah, xviii. 31- 
xix. 46. 

B. In teaching daily in the temple, and there vindicat- 
ing his authority as Messiah before the plotting rulers 
and the rejoicing people, xix. 47-xxi. 4. 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 233 

C. In predicting to his disciples his second coming, 
with the rejection of the Jews and the bringing in of the 
Gentiles, xxi. 5—36. 

D. In the progress of the conspiracy, in connection 
with the teaching in the temple and the keeping of the 
Passover, xxi. 37-xxii. 38. 

Section 2. He presents Jesus, the compassionate di- 
vine man, voluntarily yielding himself up to his enemies 
and to the sacrificial death on the cross, xxii. 39-xxiii. 
49. 

A. In the agony, betrayal, arrest, trial, unjust sen- 
tence, and delivery to his enemies to be crucified, xxii. 
39-xxiii. 25. 

B. In the crucifixion, — with the lamentations of the 
people, the compassionate prayer for the scoffing mur- 
derers, the saving of the dying thief, the supernatural 
darkness and rending of the veil of the temple, and the 
verdict of innocence by the centurion and the people, 
xxiii. 26-49. 

CONCLUSION. 

The Divine Man, Saviour of all Nations. The 
Evangelist exhibits Jesus in his triumph over death, as 
the Saviour of all nations, xxiii. 50-xxiv. 53. 

Section 1. In his burial by a just man, and in his rest 
in the grave of humanity, xxiii. 50-56. 

Section 2. In his resurrection, in fulfillment of his own 
prediction concerning himself as the Son of man. xxiv. 
1-12. 

Section 3. In his manifestation to his disciples, in 
teaching that his death is part of the one great plan of 
God, in sending them to preach repentance and remis- 
sion of sins in his name among all nations beginning at 
Jerusalem, and in his parting blessing and ascension, 
xxiv. 13-53. 



234 LUKE. THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 



SECTION n. 

THE GREEK ADAPTATION IX THE CENTRAL IDEA OF 
THE THIRD GOSPEL. 

With the aid of the outline, which clearly bears the 
marks of the Greek aim, it may now be shown how the 
Gospel according to Luke, in its organic idea and general 
tenor, falls in with the testimony of history that it was 
produced and published especially for Greek readers. 

I. The Central Idea. 

It is a familiar fact in literature, that unity of plan 
and aim does not necessarily preclude the existence of a 
twofold idea in any production, an external and an in- 
ternal, provided one be subordinate to the other. Hence 
some have viewed the Julius Caesar of Shakespeare as a 
historical tragedy, others as a character tragedy. It is 
both at once, — for the poet evidently intended to give a 
view of the external movement of events in one of the 
greatest crises in all history, the one that hastened the 
preparation of the Roman world for the Advent ; and at 
the same time to delineate the internal but deadly strug- 
gle of the ideas of the old Rome and the new, of the Re- 
public and the Empire, as embodied in the noble and 
patriotic but weak Brutus and the mighty but ambitious 
Caesar. The true unity is found in the subordination of 
the external to the internal. 

The Gospel according to Luke may be regarded as 
having such a twofold idea, and as maintaining real 
unity in a similar way. 

The External. The central idea of the third Gospel, 
in its outward aspect, is found in the opening verses of 
the first chapter. It is the presentation of an accurate 
history of Jesus of Nazareth. This may be called the 
literary aim of Luke. 



THE CENTRAL IDEA. 235 

As clearly as we recognize in the first Gospel a per- 
petual comparing of the person of Jesus Christ with the 
prophecies concerning the Messiah, for the Jew; and in 
the second Gospel, the exhibition of the mighty deeds of 
the conqueror of the world in compressed, graphic, and 
living form, for the Roman ; so clearly do we recognize 
in the third Gospel the presence of the historian, pre- 
paring for the accurate and philosophic Greek. The au- 
thor states at once the two main objects of the histori- 
cal writer : to draw up a continuous narrative, derived 
from a careful scrutinizing of the testimonies of eye-wit- 
nesses and ministers of the word ; and to commit it to 
writing in chronological order (Luke i. 1-4). 

The historical structure is found in Luke, with the 
greatest definiteness in dates and events, the clearest and 
most accurate knowledge of Jewish and Gentile contem- 
poraneous history, and with the widest and firmest grasp 
of the workings of the human soul and of the condition 
and wants of mankind. These features may readily be 
illustrated and verified from the Gospel itself. 

The third Gospel manifestly takes the form of com- 
plete historical narrative. It does not, like that of Mat- 
thew, " content itself with a short notice of our Lord's 
conception and birth. It carries events farther back in 
their sublime continuity ; it leads us to the first begin- 
nings, and, as it were, to the very dawn of our Lord's 
coming in the flesh ; it commences with various details 
relating to the annunciation, the conception, and the 
birth, not only of our Lord himself, but also of his fore- 
runner, the Baptist (Luke i.). It opens with an expres- 
sion (i. 5) which subsequently occurs above sixty times 
in the two compositions of St. Luke ; there ivas* or it 
happened that" 1 The use of this expression is signifi- 

1 See Da Costa, The Four Witnesses, p. 150. 



236 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

cant of the historic point of view maintained by the 
Evangelist throughout. 

The attention to dates, so requisite to history, is found 
everywhere in Luke. From the very opening he care- 
fully determines the dates of the great events which he 
narrates. It was in the days of Herod, the king of 
Judasa, that a certain priest named Zacharias, of the 
course of Abia, while officiating in the temple in the 
order of his course, received from the angel Gabriel pre- 
announcement of the birth of John Baptist (i. 5-20). 
It was in the sixth month after that the angel Gabriel 
was sent to Nazareth to make to Mary the pre-announce- 
ment of the birth of Messiah (i. 26). The date of the 
entrance of the Baptist upon his public ministry is given 
with even greater accuracy : " Now in the fifteenth year 
of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being gov- 
ernor of Judsea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and 
his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of 
Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas 
and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God 
came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilder- 
ness " (iii. 1, 2). With respect to our Lord himself, it is 
also Luke alone who speaks of his being circumcised on 
the eighth day (ii. 21) ; of his being brought into the 
temple after the days of the purification were fulfilled 
(ii. 22, and following verses) ; of Jesus, at the age of 
twelve years, as sitting in the midst of the doctors in the 
temple (ii. 42, etc.). He is also the only Evangelist 
that informs us of Jesus' being of the age of thirty years 
when he received the rite of baptism at the hands of 
John, and from the Holy Spirit from heaven (iii. 23). 1 

No other Evangelist enters so deeply into the Jewish 
history of those times. He alone, for example, records 
our Lord's allusion to the massacre of the Galileans by 

1 See The Four Witnesses, p. 152. 



THE CENTRAL IDEA. 237 

Pontius Pilate at one of the festivals, and to the fall of 
the tower of Siloam which caused the death of eighteen 
persons (xiii. 1-4). Luke, in addition to what the other 
Evangelists relate of the connection of Herod Antipas 
with John the Baptist, connects him with Jesus himself. 
He alone tells us that there came certain of the Pharisees 
and said to him : " Get thee out, and depart hence, for 
Herod will kill thee ; " and that Jesus answered them : 
" Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold I cast out devils, and 
I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I 
shall be perfected " (xiii. 31, 32). He alone records the 
fact that Jesus, when on trial, was sent to that same 
Herod, and that the murderer of the Baptist became a 
reviler of the Son of God, and at the same time one of 
the witnesses of his innocence (xxiii. 5-12 ; Acts iv. 
27). It is from Luke, also, that we learn that among 
the godly women who ministered to the wants of Jesus 
with their substance, " there was Joanna, the wife of 
Chuza, Herod's steward" (viii. 3). 

Probably no books of antiquity contain so many, varied, 
and wide-reaching references to the institutions, customs, 
geography, and history of their times, as do the two 
books written by Luke. They were written at a time 
when it would have been the more difficult for any one 
but a contemporary to maintain perfect accuracy and 
fidelity to the truth, along with such detail and definite- 
ness of statement and allusion, in proportion as the 
period was marvelously " fertile in great events, in 
changes in governments and in the boundaries and 
names of countries and peoples." And yet the result 
of the most searching scrutiny of these writings, " sifted 
fact by fact, detail by detail, expression by expression, in 
the light of all that the most civilized and the most 
enlightened antiquity directly witnesses or incidentally 
suggests to our researches," has vindicated for them such 



238 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

a claim to the faith of the world as no secular histories 
of that or the succeeding ages can pretend to urge for 
themselves, — so that Luke is justly and preeminently 
called the historian. 

The history is still better adapted, by the selection of 
the material, to suit the aesthetic Greek. It is not made 
up of dry, dead facts. Poetry and song flash out from its 
pages. The profound wisdom of the parable and the 
rapt inspiration of eloquent discourse combine to chain 
the attention. The beauty of this world in which the 
Greek delighted, and the glories of the heavenly world of 
which he had scarcely dreamed, unite to charm the soul. 
The revelations of new and sublime conceptions of the 
universe, of human duty and destiny, and of the Deity, 
expand and exhaust the powers of the most capacious 
imagination. In short, the Gospel combined in itself 
everything that could attract and absorb the true Greek 
soul. 

The Internal. The central idea of the third Gospel, 
in its internal aspect, appears throughout. It is this : 
Jesus is the perfect, divine man, the Saviour of the world. 

Luke takes the point of view of the Greek and main- 
tains it to the end. The perfect manhood of Jesus with 
the consequent mercy and universality of his covenant, 
rather than the temporal relations or the eternal basis 
of Christianity, furnishes his central subject. " In the 
other Gospels we find our King, our Lord, our God ; but 
in St. Luke we see the image of our great High Priest, 
made perfect through suffering, tempted in all points as 
we are, but without sin, — so that each trait of human 
feeling and natural love helps us to complete the outline 
and confirms its truthfulness." 1 

The Gospel seizes upon the humanity of Jesus as the 
idea most attractive to the mind of the Greek. Jesus 

1 Westcott, Introduction to the Study of the Gospels, p. 371. 



THE CENTRAL IDEA. 239 

is preeminently man, the man. He is neither Roman, 
Greek, nor Jew. He rises above the conditions of time 
and place. What the Greek blindly strove to reach, 
what Paul in some measure approximated, that Jesus 
illustrated in its perfection, — the universal man, the 
pattern and brother of all the race. This man, Luke ex- 
hibits in the various stages of his human development ; in 
his intellectual grasp of things earthly and heavenly ; in 
his marvelous sympathy with all of human kind ; in 
his matchless work as the one who was to give light 
to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death ; 
in his consummate genius, his lofty enthusiasm, his divine 
inspiration. 

Especially does the third Gospel present the universal 
grace of God. A very large portion of it is taken up 
with what is now quite generally acknowledged to be 
Christ's ministry in Peraaa, or across Jordan, and on his 
last journey to Jerusalem (ix. 51-xviii. 80), — a ministry 
to a Gentile race, and therefore peculiarly suited to the 
Greek and to all the world represented by him. The 
grace of God for all men, foreshadowed in the song of the 
angels of the annunciation (ii. 10-14), is made luminous 
in the teachings, especially in the parables, of this heart 
of the third Gospel. 

At the same time, as will subsequently appear more 
fully, the Evangelist intelligently aims to correct the 
false Greek notions. He shows him man as he really 
is. He reveals his true position and destiny. By con- 
trast with the truth he exhibits the shallowness and 
absurdity of the Greek theogony and theology. He un- 
veils the invisible and future worlds to him. He shows 
him God as he really is, not in relentless Fate, but in 
the person of Jesus, the God-man, as the infinitely com- 
passionate and gracious One. 

The external form and historical aim of the Gospel, 



240 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

so far from being out of harmony with this its internal 
idea, furnish rather the perfect vehicle for its presenta- 
tion. The Evangelist prepares for the Greek — as he an- 
nounces his purpose to do — an accurate and systematic 
exhibition of the facts of the career of Jesus; but this 
is only the more perfect frame-work for the exquisite 
portraiture of the perfect man, who is himself the pledge 
of the blessedness of faith and the exaltation of the lowly, 
and who appears in the world to give light to them that 
sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. 

II. The General Drift. 

The influence of this central Greek idea, in its two- 
fold form, is made apparent by a general movement a,nd 
drift peculiar to the third Gospel. 

No one can mistake the presence and moulding power 
of the aesthetic and philosophic spirit, in the choice of 
materials and in their embodiment in literary form. The 
entire plan, the parts, even the sentences and the words 
show it. This will appear in every phase of the present 
investigation. 

The human and universal aim will also be everywhere 
manifest to the careful reader. It is brought out clearly 
in the general drift of the Gospel, as seen by the help of 
the outline view. 

In the Introduction, after the Evangelist has stated 
the literary aim of his work, he presents Jesus the per- 
fect man, first, in his origin, birth, and manifestation to 
men ; secondly, in the development of his human nature 
under law, human and divine ; and, thirdly, in his special 
preparation for the work of the Saviour of the world. 
This is the true unfolding of the manhood of Jesus in its 
relations to all mankind, and is just the view adapted to 
the Greek mind. 

In Part First, the Evangelist proceeds to exhibit that 



THE CENTRAL IDEA. '241 

first work of Jesus, as the fully developed divine man, in 
which the world at large was interested, — the work of 
divine power for Israel, in laying the foundations of the 
kingdom of God. This work is illustrated, in its be- 
ginnings, by the manifestation of Christ's power and wis- 
dom in Nazareth, his native city, where his Gospel for 
the poor and suffering is rejected with violence ; and 
in Capernaum and its neighborhood, where he raises the 
dead, pardons sin, and exercises lordship over all the 
natural and spiritual world, thereby compelling the ac- 
knowledgment of his divinity, but driving the Jews to 
rage and conspiracy. In its later stage, it is illustrated 
by continued works of divine power and mercy, connected 
with the teachings of Jesus concerning the constitution 
and development of the kingdom of God. That king- 
dom, originating in communion with heaven, constituted 
by the call of the Twelve, based on the faith of man 
and the compassion of Christ, and embracing all classes, 
is to be developed from the seed of the truth, and by 
faith in the divine power of Jesus ; and the pressing of 
its claims upon the Galilean Jews and disciples, together 
with the results, is delineated. 

In Part Second, the Evangelist presents the second of 
the stages in Christ's public work in which all the world 
is interested, — the gracious work of the divine and uni- 
versal man, chiefly in heathen Peraea and on his last 
journey to Jerusalem, for the Gentile world. In the 
course of this presentation he records, first, the beginning 
of the last journey, and the sending out of the Gospel by 
messengers to the Samaritans, and by the Seventy to the 
Gentiles at large ; and the teaching in the parable of the 
good Samaritan that there is but one family of mankind. 
He gives, secondly, the portrayal and judgment, by Jesus, 
of the religious world of that age, dwelling upon the 
malignit}^ and hypocris}*, the worldliness and covetous- 

16 



242 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

ness, of the Jew, in contrast with the true spirit of the 
children of God, and upon the signs of impending de- 
struction. He unfolds, thirdly, the wonderful teachings 
of Jesus which show that the grace of salvation is offered 
to sinners universally. He depicts, fourthly, from the 
teachings of Jesus, the life in the kingdom of God, in the 
fidelity of its stewardship, in the breadth of its charity, 
and in its pervading spirit of prayerfulness, faith, and de- 
votion. These are the great central facts and truths of 
the public work of Christ that were best fitted to com- 
mend him to the Greek race. 

In Part Third, the Evangelist unfolds the voluntary 
suffering and death of Jesus the divine man for all the 
lost world, — showing how everything is colored by the 
human perfection and compassionate tenderness, and by 
the divine compassion and saving power, exhibited to all 
classes of men. 

The Conclusion sets forth the experience of the divine 
man in his triumph over death, and as the Saviour of the 
world, showing the place of his career in the plan of God 
and sending out his followers with salvation to all na- 
tions. 

This was just what was needed to commend Jesus as a 
Saviour to the man of Greek soul. It was at the same 
time a true view of the Prophet of Nazareth, whose 
many-sided character embraced not only the Messiah, the 
ideal Jew, and the almighty worker and victor, the ideal 
Roman, but also the divine and universal man, the ideal 
Greek. This Jesus, the inheritor of all the real perfec- 
tion and manhood, of all the natural reason and culture 
found in the Greek nature, and adding to all these a di- 
vine perfection and manhood and a supernatural reason 
and beauty, is the Jesus represented by Luke. 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 243 

SECTION m. 

THE GREEK ADAPTATION IN THE OWISSIONS AND AD- 
DITIONS OF THE THIRD GOSPEL. 

I. The Omissions of the Thi7*d Gospel. 

It will appear in the light of a careful examination, 
that Luke omits so much of the facts and teachings given 
by the other Evangelists as does not suit his special aim 
of commending Jesus as the Saviour of the world to the 
Greek mind. 

The distinctively Jewish, Roman, and Christian por- 
tions of the general mass of Gospel material are passed 
over as being of comparatively little value for his pur- 
poses. The comparison of the historic Jesus with the 
prophetic Messiah, which was the one thing for the Jew 
in whom the hope of the coming deliverer foretold in the 
prophets had been growing in power and definiteness for 
ages, could have only a minor and subordinate interest 
for the man of reason who had scarcely heard of prophecy. 
The picture of the wonderful and universal conflict and 
conquest of the Son of God, which was just the thing to 
command the attention of the Roman, in whom the wild- 
est dream of universal dominion had been realizing itself 
for ages, could have little weight with the man of reason 
whose devotion to philosophy and art, which had enabled 
him to shape the thought and culture of the world, had 
made him despise the pomp and circumstance of outward 
sovereignty. The supernatural and divine, in their 
higher spiritual aspects, which were just what the Chris- 
tian, the man regenerated, transformed, and lifted into 
sympathy with heaven, delighted in, were as yet almost 
meaningless to the man who had dwelt for ages only in 
the natural and human, and who was to be transformed 
from the godless man into the godly. 



244 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

Prom Matthew. Luke omits the distinctively Jewish 
narratives and teachings given in the first Gospel. 

This is illustrated by a comparative view of the intro- 
ductions to the first and third Gospels. To the careless 
reader they might seem to cover the same ground and to 
embrace the same material. The truth is, however, that 
so far is this from being the case, that, while the first 
Gospel presents the origin and preparation of the Mes- 
siah, the third gives the human origin and development 
of the perfect man. But what is more remarkable is, 
that the material used by the two is almost totally differ- 
ent, since Luke omits the most of what Matthew gives. 
By following the narratives it will be seen that he passes 
over the royal lineage by Solomon and Joseph ; the pro- 
phetic divine origin ; the coining of the Magi ; the mas- 
sacre of the innocents ; the flight into Egypt and the re- 
turn to Nazareth ; while he retains the mission of the 
Baptist and the temptation. The portions omitted have 
exclusive reference to prophecy and to Jewish wants. 

Passing on to the public ministry of Jesus, it will be 
observed that Luke does not record the opening of the 
ministry in Galilee (Matt, iv.), in which prophecy is 
fulfilled and all Syria roused ; it was a Gospel for the 
Jew only, and therefore of subordinate interest to the 
Greek. So the Sermon on the Mount (Matt, v.-vii.) 
finds no place in the third Gospel ; it was on its very 
face a proclamation of the constitution and character of 
the kingdom of heaven for the Jewish hearers. The 
portion of Luke's Gospel that has sometimes been con- 
founded with the Sermon on the Mount (Luke vi. 17- 
49) is entirely without the marked Jewish references 
found in that production as given by Matthew. 

Still more noteworthy is the absence from the third 
Gospel of all those discourses recorded by Matthew, 
which are especially condemnatory of the Jews, and 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 245 

which in so many instances exalt the Gentiles above the 
Jews. These were absolutely essential in a Gospel de- 
signed to open the eyes of the descendants of Abraham 
and lead them to a deep sense of their need, and to a 
cordial spiritual reception of God's Messiah. But they 
would undoubtedly have been a source of evil to the Gen- 
tile readers of Luke, and that for a twofold reason, — 
that they did not at all reveal their own besetting sins, 
and that the preaching against other men's sins would 
have led — as it always leads — to spiritual pride rather 
than spiritual profit. So Luke passes over the upbraid- 
ing of the cities of Galilee (Matt. xi. 20-30) which 
had been the centre of Christ's mightv works, together 
with the comparison with the Gentile cities of Tyre and 
Sidon and Sodom, and the gracious invitation to salva- 
tion. He likewise passes over the discourses connected 
with the Pharisees' charge against Jesus of collusion with 
Beelzebub in casting out demons, and with the demand 
of the Scribes and Pharisees for a sign (Matt. xii. 22- 
45) ; and the discourse on the treatment of the little 
ones and the law of forgiveness in the kingdom of heaven 
(Matt, xviii. 10-35), aimed at Jewish implacability 
and Jewish longing for a temporal kingdom. He gives 
barely a sentence (Luke xx. 45-47) of that most terrible, 
discourse ever uttered in the ears of men, which Matthew 
(xxiii. 1-39) records fully, — the final woes pronounced 
upon the Scribes and Pharisees and upon Jerusalem it- 
self. 

Turning from discourses to parables, it will be found 
that the third Evangelist deals in like manner with the 
parables aimed directly at the Jew. Of the parables of 
the kingdom (Matt, xiii.), three out of the seven are 
retained, — the sower (Luke viii. 4-15) as illustrating 
productiveness in the kingdom ; and the mustard-seed 
and the leaven (xiii. 18-21), as portraying the outward 



246 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

growth and the inward change of the kingdom ; while 
four are left out, — the tares and the drag-net, as illus- 
trating the mixed condition of things in the Jewish 
world and the Church ; and the hid treasure and pearl of 
great price, as setting forth the search and sacrifice re- 
quired of Messiah in order to secure the true kingdom, 
which the apostate Jews vainly supposed themselves to 
constitute. Of the later parables of Matthew, Luke 
drops those of the laborers (Matt. xx. 1-16), of the 
two sons (xxi. 28-32), and of the marriage of the king's 
son (xxii. 1-14), as presenting the exaltation of the 
Gentiles over the Jews in such a light as to develop the 
pride and self-righteousness of the former rather than 
conduce to their salvation. He also leaves out those 
closing parables, of the ten virgins and of the talents, 
and the judgment scene (Matt, xxv.), which were all- 
important to the Jew who had almost lost out of his 
ideas of life all true fidelity in watching, all sense of need 
of the inward grace of God, all feeling of responsibility 
for well-directed, productive effort to the extent of his 
powers for God, and all sense of a judgment strictly in 
accordance with human conduct toward humanity and 
Christ in humanity ; but which might have been of no 
real profit to the Gentile, who already overestimated 
works and therefore needed first to learn the lessons of 
prayer and faith. 

This investigation might be extended to the smaller 
and less prominent parts of the first Gospel omitted by 
Luke, — such as the healing of the blind man (Matt. ix. 
27-34), Peter's confession (xvi. 17-20), the temple tax 
(xvii. 24-27), and others, — but the student of the Script- 
ures can examine them for himself. However extended 
the examination, the same evidences of a Gentile, as dis- 
tinguished from a Jewish, aim will be readily detected in 
Luke's omissions from Matthew's Gospel. 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 247 

From Mark. Luke omits the distinctively Roman 
features found in the second Gospel. 

The historic and philosophic spirit, in which the third 
Gospel was written, almost precluded the presence of 
those vivid details and scenic representations which are 
the distinguishing feature of Mark's production. The 
absence of this feature may be illustrated by comparing 
almost any of the narratives common to the two. This 
peculiarity of Mark has already been brought out in con- 
nection with the two mites of the poor widow (p. 196). 
Luke gives it as a simple narrative, stripped of all the 
picturesque features : " And he looked up, and saw the 
rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he 
saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two 
mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this 
poor widow hath cast in more than they all ; for all these 
have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God ; 
but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she 
had " (xxi. 1-4). It will be observed at once, that Luke, 
as a historian, " has recorded the matter more concisely, 
rather avoiding anything like scenic effect ; but his nar- 
rative compensates for this by the touching expression, 
applied from the nature of its contents to the treasury : 
the offerings of God." 

A cursory examination will make it clear that Luke's 
omission of the teachings peculiar to Mark is in harmony 
with his Greek aim. The parable of the seed-corn (Mark 
iv. 26-34), the healing of the blind man of Bethsaida 
(viii. 22-26) and of the deaf man of Decapolis (vii. 31- 
37), and the form of the last commission (xvi. 15-18), 
all are marked, as has already been seen, by those striking 
features that suited them to the man of action and of uni- 
versal dominion. 

From John. No less striking is Luke's omission of the 
distinctively spiritual and Christian portions of Gospel 
teaching found in John's Gospel. 



248 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

With the rare exception of an incidental statement, such 
as that concerning the work of Christ in Galilee (Luke 
iv. 14, 15 ; John iv. 43-46), Luke omits everything 
that John records, up to the last passover week. From 
that point onward he passes over all that spiritual instruc- 
tion which John preserves from the last hours of the 
Saviour's intercourse with his disciples. The unspiritual 
Greek was not yet prepared for such lessons when Luke 
gave the Gospel permanent form for him. 

Of the events of that last week Luke has nothing in 
common with John, save the record of some of the facts 
common to all the Evangelists, as centring in the sacri- 
fice of Christ, — such as the entry into Jerusalem (Luke 
xix. 29-44), — with perhaps the single exception of a 
very brief statement of Peter's first visit to the sepulchre 
(Luke xxiv. 12 ; John. xx. 3-10). Then, as now, the 
man who deified reason and gloried in a merely human 
culture was the least in sympathy with the true Christian 
spirit. John's Gospel, if given to the Greek before 
Luke's, would have been in the profoundest sense foolish- 
ness to him (1 Cor. i. 23). 

II. Additions of the Third Gospel. 

The Greek bearing of the extensive additions of the 
third Gospel is still more manifest. 

A mechanical analysis has shown that the portion of 
the entire Gospel material peculiar to the third Gospel is 
much larger than that peculiar to either the first or 
second, in fact, much larger than that of both these com- 
bined. If this Gospel be regarded as made up of 100 
parts, 59 of these are peculiar to itself, and only 41 com- 
mon to it with one or more of the other Gospels. The 
important point, however, in this connection, is, that all 
the 59 parts peculiar to Luke may be shown to be espe- 
cially appropriate to the Greek soul and its needs. 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 249 

The additions resulting from the historic and philosophic 
aim with which Luke prepared his Gospel, and appearing 
mainly in the literary form, have already been noted. So 
important are they, that even if the Evangelist had used 
precisely the same facts and teachings with the other 
Evangelists, his Gospel would have been a very different 
one from theirs. Luke's view given of Jesus of Nazareth, 
while in real harmony with that of Matthew or Mark, 
would yet have differed from them as greatly as Plato's 
delineation of Socrates differed from that of Xenophon. 
But such additions, arising from the spirit and aim of a 
writer, cannot be clearly expressed in words ; they must 
be intuitively discerned by the soul of the appreciative 
reader, if they are to be known at all. 

But the fifty-nine parts peculiar to Luke are tangible 
additions and may be examined in detail. The scope of 
the present discussion leaves space for only a cursory ex- 
amination. This, however, is all that is needed for the 
present purpose. 

To any one familiar with this Gospel, it will at once 
occur that there are two very extensive portions of it 
almost entirely its own : the Introduction, and Part Sec- 
ond. 

The wonderful apparent likeness, with the equally won- 
derful real difference, of the Introductions of the first 
and third Gospels, has been remarked in considering the 
omissions of Luke, from the common Gospel material. 
There is not even the appearance of likeness between the 
opening chapters of Luke and those of Mark and John. 

Luke's introduction is exactly suited to the Greek. It 
starts out with a clear and concise statement of the liter- 
ary aim. It is chiefly occupied with the presentation of 
every stage in the development of the veritable humanity 
of our Lord, beginning from the counsels of God and end- 
ing with the completed manhood of the Son of God, the 



250 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

Saviour of the world. Luke alone records those revela- 
tions from heaven, concerning the forerunner and the 
Messiah, which preceded their birth, and indicate the 
special and intense interest of the invisible and spiritual 
world in the coming Son of man, — including the poetic 
outpouring of the souls of Mary and Zacharias, and the 
song of the angels at the Advent. Luke alone gives 
the Gospel of the infancy and youth of Jesus, — includ- 
ing the wonderful events, natural and supernatural, ac- 
companying the birth and cradling in the manger ; the 
strange recognition attending the circumcision and the 
first presentation of the child in the Temple ; the unique 
experiences marking the subsequent visit of the child at 
twelve years of age to his Father's house ; and the law 
of progress in his human development, in the family at 
Nazareth, toward the perfect manhood. The perfecting 
of the man Luke then represents as completed in the 
baptism of John, which introduces him as the Jehovah 
of prophecy, the teacher of the world, and the beloved 
Son of God ; in the genealogy, which traces his descent 
from Adam and God ; and in the temptation, which is 
his conquest over the great foe of humanity. Every line 
will be seen to bear the Greek mark. 

The second of the extended portions peculiar to Luke 
(ix. 51-xviii. 30), known as the record of Christ's gra- 
cious work for the Gentile world, chiefly across the Jor- 
dan, in heathen Peraea, and on his last journey to Jeru- 
salem, is no less characteristic. The fact that it is the 
record of a work for Gentiles demonstrates its fitness for 
the representative of the Gentile world. Leaving out of 
view the aim of the third Gospel, it would most certainly 
be a marvelous thing, in short, perfectly inexplicable, that 
all the other Evangelists should have wholly passed by 
this period of Christ's work ; while Luke draws almost 
half of his entire Gospel — two thirds of the heart of it 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 251 

— from its unique work and doctrine. But the Greek 
design of the third Gospel once admitted, this choice of 
its main material at once commends itself as in agreement 
both with the human reason and the divine guidance 
which entered into the preparation of the Gospels. The 
rejected messengers of mercy to the Samaritans and the 
mission of the Seventy to the Gentiles ; the picture of 
the sinfulness of the apostate religious world of that age 
in contrast with the true faith in the kingdom of God ; 
the universal reach of the offer of God's salvation ; and 
the portrayal of the spiritual life in the kingdom ; all 
these things, as brought out clearly and fully in this rec- 
ord of the PeraBan ministry, were precisely adapted to 
the wants of the Greek world. 

But besides these extended portions of Luke's Gospel, 
which contain most of its peculiar teachings, there are 
other and briefer sections, given b} r this Evangelist alone, 
that equally bear the marks of his Greek aim. These 
are found either in connection with the Galilean ministry 
of Jesus, or with those final events of his career which 
find their centre in the cross. 

Of the former additions, the bearing may readily be 
seen. Luke alone gives an account of the early rejection 
of Jesus at Nazareth (iv. 16-30), which led him to 
change his abode to Capernaum. He tells us that Jesus, 
after reading Isaiah's prophecy (lxi. 1, 2), concerning 
the anointing of the Messiah to preach a gospel of grace 
to the poor and needy, declared that the prophet referred 
to him, and was thereupon rejected by the Nazarenes, 
because he was one of themselves. The Evangelist adds, 
that Jesus then enraged them by showing that, even in 
the times of Elijah and Elisha, the Gentiles were some- 
times preferred before Israel in the dispensation of God's 
blessings. Luke alone records the teaching from the 
ship on Gennesaret, when, by the miraculous draught of 



252 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

fishes, so deep an impression was made upon Simon 
Peter of his own sinfulness, and he was called to become 
a fisher of men, and when he and James and John for- 
sook all and followed Jesus (Luke v. 1-11). He alone 
gives the Sermon on the Plain (vi. 17-49), in which are 
unfolded the great principles that should govern men as 
men in the kingdom of God, and in following which they 
shall ultimately attain to complete salvation. He alone 
preserves the account of the raising of the widow's only son 
at Nain (vii. 11-17), and the manifestation of the tender 
compassion of Jesus toward the poor widow, in the pres- 
ence of the disciples and all the people. Luke alone re- 
cords the anointing of Jesus by the penitent woman, in 
the house of Simon (vii. 36-50), and the application of 
the parable of the two debtors called out by that event, 
and teaching the boundless love of Christ to great sin- 
ners and their boundless gratitude in return for his for- 
giveness, as illustrated in that one sinner. All these 
passages bear the marks of the tenderness and humanity 
of Jesus, and contain hints of his later revelations of 
himself as the Saviour of the whole world. 

The later additions give evidence of a like spirit and 
aim. This is manifest in the story of Zaccheus the pub- 
lican, and the parable of the pounds (xix. 1-27), show- 
ing how freely Jesus received publicans and sinners ; in 
the account of the strife among the disciples at the last 
supper (xxii. 24-30), probably over the washing of each 
other's feet (John xiii. 1-20), teaching the lesson that true 
greatness in the kingdom is to be attained by humble 
service for humanity ; in the account of the trial before 
Herod (xxiii. 6-12), depicting the treatment of Jesus by 
the representatives of the Jewish and Gentile worlds ; 
and in the narrative of the walk of Jesus with the two 
disciples toward Emmaus (xxiv. 13-35), portraying the 
intense sympathy with God and man of him who could 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 253 

so scan the farthest-reaching purposes of the former, and 
so set on fire the inmost hearts of the latter. All these 
gospel teachings are found in Luke alone, and they are 
all in perfect harmony with his Greek spirit and aim. 

The more carefully both the omissions and the addi- 
tions of the third Evangelist are examined, the more 
clearly will it appear that they were eminently suited 
to commend Jesus to the Greek world of that age. 



SECTION IV. 

THE GREEK ADAPTATION IN THE INCIDENTAL VARIA- 
TIONS OF THE THIBD GOSPEL. 

A careful examination of the incidental variations and 
peculiarities of the third Gospel will make still clearer its 
Greek adaptation. The Greek spirit and purpose will 
be found to pervade the entire production, shaping both 
its teaching and its forms of expression. 

I. Incidental Variations. 

It has been shown that Luke was preeminently the 
historian and man of culture among the Evangelists, and 
at the same time the one most fully in sympathy with 
Paul the world-apostle. His production bears the marks 
of all these characteristics, throughout the entire extent 
of its variations from the other Gospels. The influence 
of the historic and philosophic spirit have already been 
sufficiently illustrated, so that there is necessity for only 
a brief consideration of this branch of the subject. 

Narrative Changes. Almost every passage in which 
Luke records something in common with one or more of 
the other Evangelists will illustrate with equal clearness 
and force his distinctive peculiarities. 

He gives, in common with Matthew and Mark, the 



254 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

account of the ministry of the Baptist. By comparing 
the three narratives, it will appear that a large part of 
Luke's is made up of materials not given by the others. 
He alone names the exact date of the opening of John's 
ministry, " in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius 
Ccesar ; " and makes it still clearer by naming all the con- 
temporaiy rulers, Jewish and Galilean, civil and eccle- 
siastical (hi. 1, 2). He alone continues the quotation 
from the prophet (iii. 4-6) till it includes the capital 
sentence for the Gentile world : " And all flesh shall see 
the salvation of GrodP He also adds that passage, — of so 
much wider than Jewish application, — unfolding the 
duties of the people, and especially of publicans and 
soldiers, in preparation for the coining of the kingdom : 
" And the people ashed him, saying, What shall we do 
then ? He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath 
two coats, let him impart to him that hath none ; and he 
that hath meat, let him do likewise. Then came also pub- 
licans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what 
shall we do ? And he said unto them, Exact no more 
than that which is appointed you. And the soldiers like- 
ivise demanded of him, saying, And ivhat shall we do ? 
And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither 
accuse any falsely ; and be content with your wages'''' (iii. 
10-14). So Luke alone tells us that it was " as the peo- 
ple were in expectation, and all mused in their hearts of 
John " (iii. 15), that the Baptist uttered the clear and 
decisive declaration concerning the coining of the mightier 
one, the Messiah ; and he alone adds to what is common 
to the first three Evangelists, as if to complete the his- 
toric form : " And many other things in his exhortation 
preached he unto the people " (iii. 18). At the same 
time he passes over the prophetic credentials of the fore- 
runner (Matt. iii. 4), and transforms what in Mark is a 
vivid picture into a sober historic account. 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 255 

The account of our Lord's experience in Gethseinane 

is also given by the first three Evangelists. While Mat- 
to «. o 

thew maintains his habit of careful grouping of events, 
and Mark his of intense and vivid expression, and both 
record the fact that Jesus went thrice from his disciples 
and repeated the prayer to his Father ; Luke represents 
the whole as a season of prayer, connected with a great 
crisis in the spiritual experience of Jesus, in which the 
agony increased in power until it reached the intensest 
pitch ; and he alone adds : " And there appeared an 
angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And 
being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly ; and his 
sic eat teas as it icere great drops of blood falling down to 
the ground" (xxii. 43, 4-1). So only Luke tells us, with a 
touch of human tenderness, that Jesus found the dis- 
ciples " sleeping for sorrow." 

These examples might be extended to cover all the 
narratives of events common to Luke with some other 
Evangelist; and, however far extended, would always 
bear the marks of special adaptation to the Greek, the 
man of universal human sympathies. 

Slighter Additions. The same characteristics appear 
in the slighter incidental additions found throughout the 
third Gospel. 

There are indications here and there of Luke's sym- 
pathy with Paul in his well-known predilection for the 
number three, as the symbol of perfection, which often 
influenced that Apostle even in the construction of his 
sentences, and which manifests itself in his Epistles " in 
his constantly tracing back all doctrine to the most Holy 
Trinity of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost ; and, 
in the practice of the Christian life, to the trinity of 
Faith, Hope, and Charity." 1 Where Matthew (vii. 
9, 10) gives two similitudes intended to animate to be- 

1 Da Costa, The Four Witnesses, p. ] 76. 



256 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

lieving prayer, Luke (xi. 11, 12) at the same time that he 
emphasizes the father, adds a third similitude : " If a son 
shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he 
give him a stone ? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish 
give him a serpent ? or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer 
him a scorpion?" Where Matthew (xxiv. 40, 41) gives 
two examples of the difference that the great day of his 
coming would make in the condition of persons most re- 
sembling each other externally, Luke (xvii. 34-36) adds 
a third : " I tell you, in that night there shall be two men 
in one bed; the one shall be taken and the other left. 
Two women shall be grinding together ; the one shall be 
taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field ; 
the one shall be taken, and the other left." So it has 
been observed, that whereas Matthew (xviii. 12-14) illus- 
trates the restoration of the wandering sinner to favor by 
the parable of the lost sheep, Luke (xv.) adds the still 
more striking ones of the lost piece of silver and the prodi- 
gal son ; and where Matthew (viii. 19-22) records two 
examples of what is required in following Jesus, Luke 
(ix. 57-62) adds a third. 

There are likewise remarkable evidences of the tender- 
ness toward the chosen people Israel, which Paul exhibits 
so strikingly in his Epistle to the Romans (ix. 4, 5 ; xi. 
18, 28), and which was so becoming to one who, like 
Luke, had the breadth of the Greek soul while he owed 
all his hope of salvation to the Jews. The Evangelist 
delights to record the recognition by Jesus of the sons and 
daughters of Abraham whom he had benefited. He alone 
gives an account of the conversion of Zaccheus, adding 
his nationality : "This day is salvation come to this house, 
forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham" (xix. 9). It 
is Luke (xiii. 16) who gives our Lord's defense of the 
woman who was bowed together, addressed to the hypo- 
critical ruler of the synagogue : " Ought not this woman, 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 257 

"being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, 
lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the 
Sabbath-day ? " 

While Luke is distinctively the Evangelist of the Greek 
world, he shows the spirit of the universal man, in his 
appreciation of the relation of salvation to the Jews. It 
is he that writes, in giving the announcement of the angel 
concerning the Baptist (i. 16) : "And many of the chil- 
dren of Israel shall be turned to the Lord their God ; " and 
in the announcement concerning Jesus (i. 32, 83) : " The 
Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father 
David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever." 
It is true also that Luke alone records all three of Christ's 
lamentations over the doomed Jerusalem (xiii. 34, 35 ; 
xix. 41-44; xxiii. 27-31). "Finally, it is Luke who, in 
addition to the detailed prophecy of the destruction of 
Jerusalem, given by all the three synoptical Evangelists, 
records the hint that was given of the restoration that 
she might one day expect. In his Gospel alone, we read, 
in the prediction uttered by Jesus on the mount of Olives, 
these significant words (xxi. 24): 'And they shall fall by 
the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into 
all nations : and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the 
Gentiles, until the times of the Grentiles be fulfilled.' " 1 

Word Changes. The Grecian drift of the third Evan- 
gelist may also be traced throughout his Gospel, in his 
departure from the usage of the other Evangelists in the 
employment of words. 

The prominence given by Luke to the word sinner in 
its various forms will be alluded to elsewhere. His use 
of the word people will still better illustrate the point 
under consideration. He uses it oftener than all the 
other Evangelists. A single example will suffice. In 
relating the healing of the blind man of Jericho, Matthew 

1 The Four Witnesses, p. 183 
17 



258 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

(xx. 29) says that " a great multitude {crowd) followed 
him," and rebuked the blind men when they cried for 
mercy (31) ; Mark, that " he went out of Jericho with his 
disciples and a great number of people " (x. 46), and, 
that when the blind man cried out, "many charged him 
that he should hold his peace " (48) ; Luke, that " they 
which went before " rebuked the blind man (xviii. 89), 
and that all the people when they saw it gave praise unto 
God (43). That definite and, so to speak, organized 
body, the people, thus takes the place of the indefinite 
crowd, many, and great number. 

The examination might be extended to the entire Gos- 
pel with like results. The moulding presence of the 
Greek aim and spirit would be everywhere manifest, and 
that in proportion to the thoroughness of the investiga- 
tion. 

II. Other Peculiarities. 

The survey, thus far taken, of the third Gospel, has 
prepared for the more definite presentation of some of 
those incidental features, in assumption or expression, 
which demonstrate most clearly its Greek adaptation. 
These features may be brought out in connection with 
the character of Jesus as the perfect man, and with the 
revelation of God and the invisible world. 

Jesus the Universal Man. It has already appeared 
that Jesus bears in the third Gospel the character of the 
perfect, divine man, the Saviour of the world. This may 
be more fully demonstrated by tracing the progress of 
his human development, and bringing out the elements of 
complete manhood and the distinctive features of his 
work as the Saviour of the world, as these things are 
presented in the Gospel according to Luke. 

The Evangelist records the early human development 
of Jesus. 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 259 

Iii this Gospel alone do we read of the salutation of 
Elizabeth, " Blessed art thou among women, and blessed 
is the fruit of thy womb" (i. 42) ; that the babe " was 
wrapped in swaddling clothes" (ii. 7) ; that the child was 
" circumcised on the eighth day " (ii. 21) ; that he " was 
presented to the Lord in the Temple" (ii. 27) ; that "the 
child," or lad, " grew and waxed strong in spirit " 
(ii. 40) ; that " the grace of God was upon him " (ii. 40) ; 
that when he was twelve years old his parents took him 
with them, after the custom of the Jews, to Jerusalem, to 
the feast of the Passover (ii. 41, 42) ; that after his in- 
terview with the doctors he gave to his mother that won- 
derful answer, indicative of the dawning consciousness in 
the child's soul of his mission (ii. 49) ; that then he 
" went down " again with his parents, and " came to 
Nazareth and was subject to them " (ii. 51) ; that he " in- 
creased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God 
and man" (ii. 52) ; that when he was baptized by John 
he "began to be about thirty years of age " (iii. 23). 

But besides giving so minutely his early human de- 
velopment, Luke, throughout his whole Gospel, is con- 
stantly tracing and dwelling upon the peculiar marks of 
our Lord's humanity to the end of his career. In Luke 
alone do we read of "the paps which he had sucked" 
(xi. 27); of his "rejoicing in spirit" (x. 21); of his 
weeping over the city (xix. 41) ; of his kneeling down in 
prayer (xxii. 41) ; of the appearance of an angel from 
heaven in Gethsemane strengthening him (xxii. 43) ; 
that being in an agony he prayed more earnestly, and his 
sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down 
to the ground (xxii. 44) ; that like " a righteous man," 
which the centurion is here said to have called him, he 
cried with his latest breath, " Father, into thy hands I 
commend my spirit " (xxiii. 46) ; that after his resurrec- 
tion, he verified his resurrection-body to his disciples by 



260 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

sitting at meat with them, by taking a piece of broiled 
fish and of a honey-comb and eating it before them, and 
b}' bidding them to handle him and see that it was him- 
self ; that he said, " It is I myself ; for a spirit hath not 
flesh and bones as ye see me have " (xxiv. 39) ; that he 
made the hearts of those two disciples burn within them 
by the power of his human sympathy, as he walked and 
talked with them on their way to Emmaus (xxiv. 32). 
These features, brought out in this Gospel alone, are 
enough to tell the complete and connected story of the 
development of the veritable man Jesus. They are but 
surface indications on the great current of his life, as 
presented by the Gentile Evangelist for the Greek. 

It is no less remarkable that all the elements of a com- 
plete manhood are brought out in the third Gospel with 
wonderful distinctness. 

Keenly incisive as were the thoughts of Jesus of Naza- 
reth, he was no " clear, cold, logic engine." The reality 
of his human sympathies and affections is exhibited in an 
almost exhaustless variety of interesting details, while he 
is shown to be possessed of a depth and breadth and in- 
tensity of human feeling before unknown to the world. 
This element in his character is seen to the best advan- 
tage in the relations which Luke represents him as hold- 
ing to those classes of humanity for which the age cared 
the least : to children ; to woman ; to the outcasts from 
society. 

The other Evangelists tell us of our Lord's blessing 
children, but Luke commonly adds something that brings 
out the tenderness of his regard for them. He alone tells 
us that they were infants that were brought to Jesus 
when he so graciously and winningly presented himself 
as the children's Saviour : " And they brought unto him 
also infants that he would touch them " (xxiii. 15) ; 
that the daughter of Jairus was only a child : " one only 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 261 

daughter about twelve years of age " (viii. 42) ; that 
the demoniac healed at the foot of the Mount of Trans- 
figuration was a child : " Master, I beseech thee, look 
upon my son, for he is mine only child " (ix. 38). Tak- 
ing such incidents in connection with Luke's remarkable 
presentation of the childhood of the Baptist and of Jesus 
in the opening chapters of the Gospel, it is easy to under- 
stand why this should have been called the children's 
Gospel. 

The affectionate regard of our Lord for woman is an 
equally marked feature of this Gospel. Luke tells us of 
" certain women which had been healed of evil spirits and 
infirmities, Mary, called Magdelene, out of whom went 
seven devils, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's 
steward, and Susanna, and many others which ministered 
unto him of their substance" (viii. 3) ; of the penitent 
woman who anointed him at the feast in the house of Si- 
mon the Pharisee (vii. 46) ; of certain women who lifted 
up their voices and blessed him (xi. 27) ; of his address to 
the women of Jerusalem who followed him to the cross 
weeping (vii. 38) ; of the restoration of the son of the 
widow of Nain (vii. 11-16). It is Luke who first intro- 
duces us to those typical women of all ages, Martha and 
Mary, the one cumbered with much serving, and the 
other sitting at the feet of Jesus, while he teaches both 
herself and the sister who rebukes her, the true mis- 
sion of woman, and her real glory in devotion to him 
(x. 38-42). Such incidents as these, in connection with 
the tender regard so often exhibited for the widowed and 
bereaved, and, more than all, in connection with those 
wonderful events in the lives of Elizabeth and Mary, 
unfolded only here, by bringing Jesus into closest sympa- 
thy with true womanhood, and by exalting the glory of 
true motherhood through her who was " blessed among 
women (i. 28, 42)," entitle this Gospel to be called in a 



262 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

peculiar sense, the Gospel of woman, for whom that old 
Greek world had no Gospel. 

More wonderful still was the affectionate sympathy of 
our Lord, depicted in this Gospel, with the poor, despised, 
suffering, outcast classes of society. While he constantly 
rebuked and warned the hypocrite, the self-sufficient, the 
self-righteous, the rich, the luxurious, the frivolous, and 
the thoughtless, — as in the case of the ruler of the syna- 
gogue who found fault with him for loosing the woman, 
on the Sabbath, from the spirit of infirmity which had 
bowed her together for eighteen years (xiii. 11) ; in the 
case of those who complacently told him of the Galileans 
whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices (xiii. 
1) ; in the case of the Pharisees who derided his teach- 
ing concerning man's stewardship, and whose character 
and destiny he unfolded in the parable of the rich man 
and Lazarus (xvi. 19-31) ; and in the case of the rich 
man who had much goods laid up for many years (xii. 
19), — he is yet everywhere presented as the friend of 
the poor and the needy. In Luke's Gospel alone the 
beatitudes all become blessings to the poor and suffering 
(vi. 20-22) ; the most precious of the parables, — as the 
great supper, the marriage feast, Lazarus and the rich 
man, the good Samaritan, and the prodigal, — all mark 
this Gospel as preeminently for the poor. The experi- 
ence of our Lord himself is presented as that of one of 
the poor, since he became poor, was laid in a manger, 
and his parents were obliged to offer at his presentation 
in the Temple the offering of the poor, " a pair of turtle 
doves or two young pigeons " (ii. 24). 

But Luke makes the sympathy of Jesus with the abso- 
lute outcasts to stand out still more clearly. It appears 
in the friendly recognition of publicans ; in the parable 
of him who went up to the Temple to pray, and stand- 
ing afar off with downcast eyes smote his breast and 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 263 

prayed, " God be merciful to me, a sinner " (xviii. 13) ; 
in the story of Zaccheus (xix. 1-10) ; in the treatment of 
the sinful but penitent woman who anointed him (vii.) ; 
in the parables of the lost piece of money and the lost 
sheep (xvi. 11) ; in that wonderful " Gospel within the 
Gospel," — the parable of the prodigal (xv.) ; in the 
memoir of the penitent malefactor on the cross (xxiii. 
42, 43). It is no marvel, then, that this Gospel, more 
than all the others, may be said to have given birth and 
inspiration to all the great reformatory movements, — 
the care for the poor, the deaf, the dumb, the insane, the 
maimed, the widowed and orphaned, the aged, even the 
criminal, — which distinguish modern Christendom. The 
third Gospel is in a peculiar sense the Gospel of those 
for whom in all ages this world has had no Gospel. 

But the expressions of this limitless tenderness and 
compassion, on the part of Jesus, reach their height in 
his treatment of the apostate and doomed Jews. Luke 
alone twice records Christ's weeping over Jerusalem (xiii. 
34, 35 ; xix. 41-44), bringing out with graphic power 
those sadder features of the coming ruin which Matthew 
does not present (Matt, xxiii. 37-39). Luke alone re- 
cords the compassionate address of Jesus to the women 
of Jerusalem, who made lamentation over him as he went 
forth to Calvary with his cross (xxiii. 27-31), with its 
equally graphic picture of the impending ruin of the 
doomed city. He alone records the prayer for the for- 
giveness of his defiant and scoffing and cruel murderers 
(xxiii. 34). He who died upon that cross could weep 
over the remediless ruin of the worst of apostate and 
doomed races, and could pray for the forgiveness of the 
most cruel and guilty murderers of all ages. 

This man of such matchless sympathies, so tireless in 
his beneficent activities, so boundless in his self-sacrifice 
for others, Luke exhibits as combining perfect moral pu- 



264 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

rity with an unapproached and inapproachable faith, 
piety, and devotion toward God. 

This, most of all, was needed to correct the Greek 
idea of manhood. Not all in man is divine, nor even, in 
the noblest sense, manly. From that hour when Luke 
sent forth his Gospel, the character of Jesus of Naza- 
reth became the perpetual condemnation of the appetite 
and passion, and the earthliness and godlessness, of the 
Greek world. In Jesus appeared a conscious and con- 
stant dependence on God, expressing itself in prayer, 
which is found linked with all the great events of his ca- 
reer, from the descent of the Holy Ghost at his baptism, 
to that last act by which he yielded up his spirit to God 
on the cross ; a perfect devotion to God, which never fal- 
tered in all that weary way from the manger to the 
grave ; and that perfect, conscious freedom from taint of 
sin, in which he stands alone in all the ages, and by 
which he realized that ideal of perfect manhood of which 
the highest Greek thought, the profoundest Greek phi- 
losophy, and the noblest Greek art, were at the best but 
anxious and troubled dreams. All the elements of a true 
and complete manhood thus unite in the Jesus of the 
third Gospel, to attract to him the Greek soul wherever 
it is found. 

This true and perfect man is also presented as the uni- 
versal man, the one " Son of Man," whose human inter- 
est and sympathy and affection and mission are bounded 
only bj the race. 

That Luke wrote his Gospel for universal humanity, 
and not for Jew, Roman, or Christian, appears abun- 
dantly in what has already been said ; but it likewise ap- 
pears everywhere in the Gospel, from the announcement 
that he shall be " a light to lighten the Gentiles " (Luke 
ii. 32), and that he shall " bring peace on earth " and 
" good will to men '' (Luke ii. 14), until that last dcda- 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 265 

ration to the disciples, that " repentance and remission of 
sins shall be preached in his name among all nations, be- 
ginning at Jerusalem" (Luke xxiv. 47). The geneal- 
ogy here given (Luke hi. 23—38) is not that of his legal, 
royal, and covenant descent, as Messiah by Joseph from 
David and Abraham, which was needed for the Jew ; 
but his actual, natural descent from Mary, traced all the 
way up to the one father of the great human brotherhood, 
to Adam, " which was the son of God " (hi. 38) ; and 
which would show the Greek that man was not autochtho- 
nous, or sprung from the earth, as he vainly supposed, 
but of divine origin. Here, in the latter half of this 
Gospel, are gathered together all those gracious parables 
found nowhere else, which present the freeness and full- 
ness of God's love to all the suffering and sorrowing 
world, and which have always been esteemed the choicest 
treasure of the nations : the good Samaritan, the great 
supper, the lost sheep, the lost piece of money, and the 
prodigal. Here alone do we find the sending out of the 
Seventy, and the work of our Lord himself among that 
heathen people in Perrea, which were the precursors and 
promises of like work for all mankind, and the events 
and teachings of which furnish nearly all of the second 
ten chapters of this Gospel. Here alone the last great 
struggle, in which Jesus is borne to the cross, is fully rep- 
resented as being, what it was in fact, not simply a strug- 
gle between Jesus and the Jewish people, but also a 
struggle between the leading classes at Jerusalem, who 
envied and hated Jesus, and the people who followed him, 
heard him gladly, rejoiced in him, and went back from 
the crucifixion beating their breasts for grief at his death 
(xxiii. 48), — a struggle in which the leaders succeeded 
in accomplishing their bloody purpose, only by making a 
compact with one of the followers of Jesus (xxii. 4), by 
taking advantage of the darkness and by calling in the 



266 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

Roman power to aid them (xxiv. 1, 7). Thus, from be- 
ginning to end, does this Gospel everywhere prove itself 
to be in very truth the Gospel of universal humanity. 

This universal man, brother of human kind, is pre- 
sented in Luke's Gospel as being at once both God and 
man, the divine man. 

It has been shown by a modern writer how difficult a 
thing it is to dramatize, and to represent in action, a 
character embracing the human and divine, in an im- 
perfect world. There never has been a successful at- 
tempt to do it except in the Gospel history of Jesus of 
Nazareth. Each of the Evangelists achieves the difficult 
task ; but in the Gospel according to Luke it is achieved 
in the face of greater difficulties than in the other Gos- 
pels, for the reason that he brings out the humanity of 
our Lord most fully. While he makes the humanity 
so prominent, he makes the Divinity scarcely less prom- 
inent. Jesus is brought forward as Jehovah, in the 
angelic message to Zacharias (i. 11-21), in the poetic 
prophecy of Zacharias (i. 67-80), in the annunciation by 
the angels to the shepherds (ii. 13), and in the preach- 
ing of the forerunner (iii. 3-17). He appears as the 
"Son of the Highest," and as the " Son of God," in 
the message of the angel to the Virgin Mary (i. 26-38), 
and is acknowledged to be the " Son of God" by the 
Father at the baptism (iii. 22), and by the world of evil 
spirits (iv. 41 ; viii. 28). He is represented as claiming 
to be God by assuming the prerogative and exercising the 
power of the almighty Moral Governor in forgiving sin, 
and then as establishing his right and power to do it 
by healing the palsied man (v. 18-26). He is exhibited 
as going through life, performing works of power that are 
possible to God only. God was everywhere in the per- 
fect man, Jesus. Here, certainly, was just the Saviour 
the Greek needed. He wanted some living image of God 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 267 

in some truly perfect man. He had striven after this in 
his poor blind way ; but the end was only godlessness, or 
the altar to " the unknown God." He had longed for hu- 
manity in its perfection and glory, for a God who should 
be a son of man. Jesus was that. So Luke portrays 
him. Jesus was Deity taking human form. Through 
that deep heart and matchless intellect and marvelous 
sense of the beautiful God himself shone. In that spot- 
less character and that active life of love, God himself 
lived and wrought. Jesus was most human, the great 
and perfect brother, and yet most divine, the great and 
perfect God. 

The Revelation of God and the Invisible "World. 
The third Gospel is equally unique in the fullness and 
vividness of its revelation of God and the spiritual world, 
both in themselves and in their relations to man and this 
present world. 

In Luke's portrayal of the divine man, that God, whom 
the Greek had put far off to the utmost bounds of the 
universe, and whom he regarded as taking no interest 
in the affairs of men, is brought very near, and shown 
to have the deepest interest in human affairs, and the 
closest sympathy with man in his joys and sorrows, in 
his life and death. 

In truth, this Gospel swept away all the gods of Greece. 
" There is but one God," was the voice of the word. It 
swept away nymphs, satyrs, and fauns, furies, fates, and 
muses, — everything with which the Greek imagination 
had peopled mountain and forest, land and sea, the 
depths of the earth and the expanse of the sky. It took 
the life out of much of Grecian art, made mere airy 
fancies of the finest works of Phidias and Praxiteles, of 
Homer and ^Eschylus, of even Plato and Aristotle ; but 
it revealed an invisible world, with its hosts of heavenly 
beings far more pure and beautiful than any creation of 



268 LUKE, THE GOSPEL EOR THE GREEK. 

man's art or thought, and engaged as messengers of God 
in ministries of love to men. God himself is interested 
in the sorrow of Zacharias and Elizabeth, and the heav- 
ens open and Gabriel descends with the promise of bless- 
ing ; He would make the virgin " blessed among women," 
and the heavens open again and the angel comes down to 
crown her with perpetual honor and joy ; He would give 
glad tidings to the sorrowing earth, and his glory bursts 
the barriers of the skies and shines upon the lowly shep- 
herds, and the angel of the annunciation proclaims to 
them the tidings of great joy, while the angelic host be- 
comes visible joining the first "glory in the highest" 
with peace and good will to men. The nearness and 
tenderness of God are made evident in all the compas- 
sionate work of Jesus, his incarnate Son ; in the teachings 
of all the great distinctive parables of this Gospel ; in 
short, -in its whole matter and manner. 

But this revelation of the powers of the unseen world 
is represented to the Greeks as having a great and benefi- 
cent design. 

Luke exhibits, with a distinctness and fullness not ap- 
proached by the other Gospels, the ruined and miserable 
condition of human nature as sinful and corrupt ; the 
twofold possible destiny of man ; and the design of God 
to lift him out of his condition of evil, and bring him into 
union and communion with himself. 

The Greek required especially to be taught the true 
condition of human nature. The idea and nature of sin 
needed to be made familiar to him, and a sense of his 
own sinfulness to be aroused in him. He had been ac- 
customed to find the cause of his failure to become the 
perfect man, and the cause of the weakness and the suf- 
fering in the world, in human limitation or misfortune ; 
before he could be saved he must be taught to find it 
in human sin. Luke, therefore, unfolds, in a manner 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 269 

equally striking and peculiar to himself, the sinfulness of 
man. He uses the word sinner oftener than all the other 
Evangelists combined. Any one who will carefully ex- 
amine this Gospel for himself with this point in view, 
will be astonished to see how the ideas of righteousness 
and unrighteousness, sin and holiness, repentance and re- 
mission, color all its teachings, from the opening scene, 
where it is declared that Zacharias and Elizabeth " were 
both righteous before God, walking in all the command- 
ments and ordinances of the Lord blameless " (i. 6) ; all 
through the vivid presentations and clear condemnations 
of the prevalent forms of sin, — such as hypocrisy, 
formality, and covetousness, — which abound in the body 
of the Gospel ; to the conclusion, where the work to 
which the disciples are sent is to preach " repentance 
and remission of sins " (xxiv. 47) among all nations. 

In harmony with all this is the portrayal of the sad 
state of man, in those inimitable pictures, the parables of 
the prodigal and the good Samaritan. In the latter par- 
able, " the wretched condition of human nature, straying 
from God's presence, and swerving from obedience to 
his law, is displayed in the person of the traveler going 
forth from Jerusalem, the holy city, to Jericho, the city 
of the world. In its way it falls among thieves. Human 
nature was encountered by the arch- thief, Satan, and 
was stripped of its original righteousness, and was left 
half dead. The priesthood came by, and the law came 
by, and cast a transitory glance upon it ; but they only 
showed its misery and evinced their own inability to heal 
it, by leaving it where it was and passing by it on the 
other side. But at last the Samaritan came. He had 
compassion on it, and bound up its wounds, pouring in 
the oil and wine which he had with him, and laid it on 
his own beast, and brought it to the inn and took care 
of it. Christ, the good Samaritan, came from heaven on 



270 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

a blessed journey, and saw mankind lying helpless in the 
road of this world, stripped and naked, full of bruises 
and putrefying sores. He bound up its wounds, and 
poured in the oil and wine of his own cleansing and 
sanctifying blood, and lifted it up from the ground and 
put it on his own beast. He himself bore our griefs and 
carried our sorrows. He himself bore our sins in his own 
body on the tree. He brought us to the inn and has 
given us to the keeping of the host, with a charge to take 
care of us ; and at his departure he provided for us, and he 
has promised to come again and demand an account of 
our treatment." 1 Equally pertinent and graphic, as 
might readily be shown, is the parable of the prodigal. 
And throughout this Gospel that wondrous love and grace 
of God, which Luke delights to trace, and the aim of 
which is to deliver humanity from its sad condition, 
bring out more strikingly by force of contrast this heavy 
background of sin and misery. 

The Greek required that the future destiny of man 
should be made clear to him. " The state of the disem- 
bodied soul was a question on which the mind of the 
Greek world had indulged in many inquisitive specula- 
tions, and on which it needed instruction. The terrors 
of Tartarus and the joys of Elysium, which had been dis- 
played in the writings of their poets, exercised a dominant 
influence on the imagination and practice of heathendom ; 
and, in the apostolic age, they had a strong hold on the 
popular mind, and alarmed it with superstitious fears, or 
mocked it with illusory hopes. Men, indeed, of a more 
philosophical temper, looked on with skeptical indiffer- 
ence, and treated these representations as legendary 
fables, and denied the resurrection of the body and the 
doctrine of future retribution. Therefore, the healing 
art of the beloved physician, St. Luke, might well be 

1 Wordsworth, Introduction to St. Luke's Gospel, p. 161. 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 271 

employed in providing a remedy for this spiritual malady. 
Accordingly, we see that he has taken care to record two 
sayings of our blessed Lord, which reflect the clearest 
light on this mysterious subject, — the state of the soul 
immediately after death, and during the interval of its 
dissolution and the day of resurrection and of judgment. 
He has done this in his recital of the history of the rich 
man and Lazarus, and in the speech of our Lord to the 
penitent thief on the cross, ' To-day thou shalt be with 
me in Paradise.' He also, alone of the Evangelists, in 
his recital of the miracle of the raising of the daughter of 
Jairus, has taken care to specify the fact that her spirit 
came back to her again (viii. 55). He thus corrected 
the erroneous notions of popular belief and philosophical 
incredulity, and revealed to the Greeks the great doc- 
trinal and practical truth, that the human soul, on its 
separation from the body by death, passes immediately 
into a place of joy or of sorrow ; and that it remains 
there until the last day, when it will be reunited to the 
body, and be admitted to the full fruition of heavenly 
bliss, or be consigned to the bitter pains of everlasting 
woe." l 

The Greek needed to have the way opened for him to 
God and heaven. Luke, therefore, taught him how com- 
munication is to be had with God and the world of invis- 
ible realities, and how man is to reach up after the per- 
fect manhood here, and the immortal manhood of glory 
hereaf ter. The prayer of faith is the great agency. Tiie 
Greeks must be taught to fall down on their knees and 
pray, and so to reach out after the invisible but living 
Father. " Their temples were not houses of prayer. 
Their worship consisted mainly in sacrifices, or in relig- 
ious pomps and processions, or in theatric shows. But no 
ritual or liturgy of heathenism has been preserved to 

1 Wordsworth, Introduction to St. Luke's Gospel, p. 159. 



272 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

us." In a word, the Greek mind was to be schooled in 
the duties of devotion. Hence, Christ appears as the 
great example of prayer and its power over the unseen 
world. He prays at his baptism and the Holy Ghost de- 
scends upon him (hi. 21). He withdraws into the wil- 
derness and prays before he heals the palsied man and 
forgives his sins, and engages in the conflict with the 
Scribes and Pharisees (v. 16). He prays all night and 
then chooses his disciples (vi. 12). He prays on the 
Mount of Transfiguration and the glory of heaven comes 
down upon him (ix. 29). He prays alone in his retire- 
ment from his public work and the disciples, with Peter 
in the lead, make their first full confession of his 
Messiahship (ix. 18). He prays in the garden before 
he goes to the cross ; and, being in an agony, he prays 
still more earnestly and an angel comes down to 
strengthen him (xxii. 41-45). Even on the cross he 
prays for his murderers (xxiii. 34), and in his last 
words commits his spirit into the hands of his Father 
(xxiii. 46). 

And in harmony with this wonderful example is the 
not less wonderful teaching, given in this Gospel only. 
Twice is he represented as saying, " Men ought always 
to pray." The effects of urgent prayer by man are here 
exhibited, not only by the promise, " Ask, and it shall be 
given you," and that peculiar promise of the Holy Spirit 
for the asking (xi. 1, 3) ; but also in the two parables, 
of the friend coming for bread at midnight (xi. 5-8), 
and the widow before the unjust judge (xviii. 1-8). He 
teaches how to pray in that form everywhere known as 
the Lord's Prayer (xi. 1-4), given only here and in 
Matthew ; and by that inimitable incident of the two 
men who went up to the Temple to pray (xviii. 9-14), 
which has, perhaps, had a more powerful influence in 
directing man to the true prayer than any other teaching 
of the Bible. 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 273 

But the Greek needed to be taught that prayer is more 
than the power which brings heaven down to men ; that 
it is also the power by which man's soul is to go out in 
gratitude toward heaven, and by which it is to mount up 
toward heaven. " The duty and blessedness of thanks- 
giving to God for benefits received from him, supplied 
another subject on which the Gentile world needed in- 
struction. They i glorified him not,' neither were they 
' thankful, is the sentence pronounced upon them by St. 
Paul. A beautiful picture of gratitude, and of its re- 
ward, is displayed by St. Luke, and by St. Luke alone, 
in the record of our Lord's miracle of mercy wrought 
upon the ten lepers who stood afar off (xvii. 12). The 
blessing pronounced upon the one who returned, and with 
a loud voice glorified God, and fell down at his feet, giv- 
ing him thanks, is made more striking and emphatic by 
its juxtaposition with the divine command, ' Go show 
yourselves to the priests ' ; and brings out more promi- 
nently the paramount obligation and exceeding felicity of 
the moral act of thanksgiving, because it is put in con- 
trast with an express command to discharge a ritual duty 
of the Levitical law. That, also, was to be done ; but 
the first thing to be done was to glorify God." 1 

Da Costa has suggested that, if it be true that the dis- 
tinctive character of the facts and doctrines collected by 
Luke is, that they, in the most marked and profoundly 
interesting manner, place over against the depths of 
man's sinfulness, wretchedness, weakness, and poverty, 
in strong relief, mercy, compassion, charity, salvation, 
prayer and answers to prayer, faith, grace, and joy, — 
then there is no word better fitted to convey an impres- 
sion of all this, than unction. 

" The Gospel of the beloved physician and Evangelist, 
the fellow-laborer of Paul, is emphatically a Gospel full 

1 Wordsworth, Introduction to St. Luke's Gospel, p. 160. 
18 



274 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

of unction. But that very word involves a new sugges- 
tion with respect to the harmonies to be found among 
these writings. Unction, according to the writers of the 
Old Testament, but still more according to those of the 
New, proceeds from the Holy Ghost." 1 

As compared with the first Gospel, or the second, it 
will be found that the third gives peculiar prominence to 
the Holy Ghost, and his gifts, operations, and divine per- 
sonality. The very opening of the Gospel, in the prom- 
ise made to Zacharias and Elizabeth, declares of the Bap- 
tist : " He shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and 
shall drink neither wine nor strong drink ; and he shall 
be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's 
womb " (i. 15). The literal accomplishment of this pre- 
diction is recorded in the same chapter (i. 41-44). The 
miraculous conception of Jesus by the power of the Holy 
Ghost is recorded with peculiar fullness by Luke (i. 35) ; 
Elizabeth, Mary, and Zacharias, being filled ivith the Holy 
Ghost, spoke and sang as inspired by him (i. 41, 46, 67). 
The Holy Ghost was upon the aged Simeon, and revealed 
to him that he should not see death until he had seen the 
Lord's Christ, and moved him to go into the Temple just 
as the child Jesus was brought in for his presentation 
according to the law (ii. 25-27). Luke emphasizes the 
descent of the Holy Ghost in a bodily shape, at the bap- 
tism of Jesus (iii. 22), and the fact that Jesus, when he 
went to the temptation, was full of the Holy Ghost (iv. 1). 
So Luke alone, in the encouragement which Jesus gives 
to prayer, defines the good things which Matthew (vii. 
11) declares that the heavenly Father is so ready to give 
for the asking, as being the Holy Ghost (Luke xi. 13). 

If sinners of the Greek world were to be lifted up into 
union with God and the things invisible, the unction from 
this Holy One was a prime necessity. For ages they 

1 The Four Witnesses, p. 198. 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 275 

had enjoyed the inspiration of genius, and it had made 
them learned, and wise, and eloquent, and cultivated, and 
beautiful, according to the standards of this world, but 
it had brought only moral wreck, and wretchedness, and 
deformity, and death. In the Holy Ghost Luke reveals 
to them the agent who shall assist them to attain to the 
heavenly wisdom, and beauty, and perfection, and life. 

In fine, this whole Gospel is throughout a delineation 
of the way for the sinner of the Gentile world to the per- 
fect, holy, blessed, and immortal manhood, which was to 
be reached by the grace of God alone, which grace could 
be secured by the prayer of faith alone, and which alone 
could satisfy the Greek soul. Walking in the way of the 
returning prodigal, wrestling with God like the poor 
widow and the humble publican, resting in the Saviour 
like the penitent thief upon the cross, treading in the 
footsteps of the good Samaritan the divine man of Naza- 
reth, aided by the Holy Ghost, even the chief of Gentile 
sinners might hope to reach the perfection of manhood 
on earth, and to be lifted with Lazarus to Abraham's bo- 
som, or rapt with Jesus himself into the paradise of God. 



SUMMARY. 

Taking into account all the various facts brought to 
light in the survey of the third Gospel, and giving to 
them their due weight, its peculiar fitness for the Greek 
mind of that age cannot reasonably be denied. 

It has been shown to be a fact of history, that Luke, a 
Greek in birth, character, and culture, prepared this 
Gospel, with the aid of Paul, for Greek readers, the 
men who were the representatives of the race at large. 
This is the historical basis of the theory. 

The adaptation to the Greek soul and its needs has 
been shown to furnish the satisfactory explanation of 



276 LUKE, THE GOSPEL FOR THE GREEK. 

the various peculiarities of this Gospel, — in its general 
plan, in its central idea and general movement, in its 
omissions and additions, and in its incidental variations. 

In fine, it is not too much to affirm that the third Gos- 
pel is so suited to the wants of the Greek soul as to 
prove that it must in reality have been prepared, as tra- 
dition testifies, for the Greek as the representative of 
universal humanity. In distinction from Matthew, the 
Gospel for the Jew, the man of prophecy ; from Mark, 
the Gospel for the Roman, the man of power ; and from 
John, the Gospel for the Christian, the man of faith ; 
Luke is the Gospel for the Greek, the world-man. 



PAET V. 



JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 



Deep strike thy roots, heavenly Vine, 

Within our earthly sod, 
Most human and yet most divine, 

The flower of man and God ! 



" We faintly hear, we dimly see, 
In differing phrase we pray ; 
But, dim or clear, we own in thee 
The Light, the Truth, the Way ! " 

John Greenleaf Whittier. 

" But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the 
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name : which were born, not 
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." 

Jonx i. 12, 13. 

"And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, 
which are not written in this book : but these are written, that ye might 
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing ye 
might have life through his name." John xx. 30, 31. 

" Ultimus Joannes apostolus et evangelista, quem Jesu amavit plurimum, 
qui supra pectus Domini recumbens (Joann. xiii. et xxi.), purissima doc- 
trinarum fluenta potavit, et qui solus de mice meruit audire : Ecce mater 
tua (Joann. xix. 27). Is cum esset in Asia, et jam tunc hoereticorum se- 
mina pullularent, Cerinthi, Ebionis, et caeterorum qui negant Christum 
in came venisse (quos et ipse in epistola sua antichristos vocat, 1 Joann. 
ii. 18), et apostolus Paulus frequenter percutit (Rom. iii. ; 2 Cor. v.), coac- 
tus est ab omnibus pene tunc Asiae episcopis, et multarum Ecclesiarum 
legationibus, de divinitate Salvatoris altius scribere, et ad ipsum (ut ita 
dicam) Dei Verbum, non tarn andaci, quam felici temeritate prorumpere." 

Jerome. 



278 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 



CHAPTER I. 

HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE CHRISTIAN ADAPTATION OF 
THE FOURTH GOSPEL. 

SECTION I. 

ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF THE FOURTH GOSPEL. 

What was the actual origin of the Gospel according 
to John ? For what class of readers was it originally 
designed ? It is clearly a fact of history that the fourth 
Gospel was prepared and given to the Church long after 
the other three had been completed, and with a different 
purpose. 

Witnesses. Until recently no testimony of Papias con- 
cerning the origin of the fourth Gospel was supposed to 
be extant, as none has been preserved by Eusebius. But 
during the visit of Professor Teschendorf to Rome, in 
1866, an extract from the work of Papias was found in a 
Latin manuscript of the Gospels in the Vatican Library. 
In this manuscript, in a prologue to the Gospel of John, 
it is said that the " Gospel of John was proclaimed and 
given to the Church while he was yet living, — as Papias 
of Hierapolis, the beloved disciple of John, declared at 
the close of the fifth book of his exposition of the oracles 
of our Lord." 1 

Of almost equal antiquity is the evidence furnished by 
the fragment of the Canon of Muratori, or the list of ca- 
nonical books of the Scriptures which Muratori found 
in an old manuscript in the library of Milan. " That 
priceless document of the second century," as Van Oos- 
terzee styles it, declares that " John wrote in answer to 

1 See Tischendorf, The Origin of the Gospels, p. 199; also Lange's Com. 
on John, p. 26. 



ORIGIN AND DESIGN. 279 

the express application of his fellow disciples and bish- 
ops." * 

Irenaeus makes a similar statement concerning the ori- 
gin of the Gospel in the preaching of John. In accord- 
ance with the polemic purpose of his work, he adds that 
one object of the Gospel was " to remove that error 
which by Cerinthus had been disseminated among men, 
and a long time previously by those termed Nicolaitans, 
who are an offshoot of that ' knowledge ' falsely so- 
called," and " to put an end to all such doctrines, and to 
establish the rule of truth in the Church." He says, 
u John excels in the depth of divine mysteries. For sixty 
years after the Ascension he preached orally, till the end 
of Domitian's reign ; and after the death of Domitian, 
having returned to Ephesus, he was induced to write 
(his Gospel) concerning the divinity of Christ, co-eter- 
nal with the Father ; in which he refutes those heretics, 
Cerinthus and the Nicolaitans." 2 

Clement of Alexandria gives still more explicitly the 
origin of the fourth Gospel, in the celebrated passage 
quoted by Eusebius. He used to say that, " last of all, 
John, observing that in the other Gospels those things 
were related that concerned the body (of Christ) and 
being persuaded by his friends and also moved by the 
Spirit of God, wrote a spiritual Gospel." 3 

Eusebius, the historian, besides adopting the state- 
ments of many of those who wrote before his time, and 
in measure summing up the past testimony, makes addi- 
tions of his own. Among other things he gives the ori- 
gin of John's Gospel substantially as follows : " While 
Matthew prepared his Gospel for the Hebrews, and Mark 
and Luke published their Gospels, they say that John in 

1 Van Oosterzee, St. John's Gospel, p. 104. 

2 Irenaeus, Against Heresies, iii. 11. 
8 Euseb. Hist. Eccles. vi. 14. 



280 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

all that time preached without writing. When the books 
of the three Evangelists were spread throughout the 
world, and came into his hands, he approved them and 
acknowledged them a true testimony ; but wished that 
the declaration of those things which were done at the 
first preaching of Christ had been made in their books." 1 
He therefore wrote his Gospel recording the ministry in 
Judaea and the early miracles. 

Jerome, in the same passage in which he declares the 
origin of the first three Gospels, testifies no less explicitly 
of the fourth. " The last is John, the Apostle and 
Evangelist, whom Jesus loved the most, who, reclining 
upon the bosom of our Lord (John xiii. and xxi.), drank 
the purest streams of doctrine flowing forth from it, and 
who alone was worthy to hear from the cross : ; Behold 
thy mother ' (John xix. 27). When he was in Asia, and 
the seeds of the heretics, Cerinthus, Ebion, and others, 
who denied that Christ has come in the flesh, had already 
sprung up, he was compelled by all the contemporary 
bishops of Asia, and by messages from many churches, 
to write more fully concerning the Divinity of the Sav- 
iour, and, with a presumption not so bold as happy to 
reach, so to speak, in his presentation of the Gospel, the 
very < Word of God.' " 2 

Gregory Nazianzen teaches that " Matthew wrote the 
wonderful works of Christ for the Jews ; Mark for the 
Romans ; Luke for the Greeks ; John, a herald who 
reaches the very heavens, for all." 3 

The great Augustine writes : " The three former Evan- 
gelists had narrated our Lord's temporal acts and the 
sayings that were of most avail for regulating the con- 
duct of this present life, and which specially concerned 

1 Euseb. Hist. Eccles. iii. 21. 

2 Hieron. Comment, in Evang. Matth. Prooem. 

3 Greg. Naz. Carmin. lib. i. sect. i. 12, vers. 31-33. 



ORIGIN AND DESIGN. 281 

the inculcation of active duties. St. John relates fewer 
acts of Christ, but is more full and minute in recording 
his sayings, particularly concerning the unity of the ever 
blessed Trinity and the felicity of life everlasting, and 
applies himself to the commendation of contemplative vir- 
tue. Hence the three other living creatures, by which 
the three other Evangelists are symbolized in the book 
of Ezekiel and in the Apocalypse, the lion, the man, and 
the calf, walk on the earth, because the three other Evan- 
gelists were principally occupied in relating those things 
which Christ wrought in the flesh, and the practical pre- 
cepts which he delivered to those who are in the flesh ; 
but St. John soars, like the eagle, above the clouds of hu- 
man infirmity, and contemplates the light of never-wan- 
ing truth with the keen and steadfast eye of faith ; he 
gazes at the Divinity of Christ, by which he is equal 
to the Father, and endeavors to present it in his Gos- 
pel." 1 

Pertinent Facts. Such testimonies might be multi- 
plied indefinitely, but those already given are sufficient 
for present purposes. They justify the belief in the fol- 
lowing facts : that the Apostle John wrote the fourth 
Gospel at the close of the first century ; that it was sub- 
stantially the embodiment of his preaching to the early 
Church, of those spiritual doctrines and experiences which 
had come from his most intimate communion with Jesus, 
and which, in an important sense, supplemented the other 
Gospels ; that it was written, not for the Jew, Greek, or' 
Roman, as such, but for the Church ; and that it was 
fitted to commend Jesus to Christians in the Church, as 
the divine Son of God, the light and life of the world. 

Some of these facts have been disputed by modern writ- 
ers, who have introduced their own crude hypotheses in 
their places. Especially has this been the case with the 

1 August, de consens. Evang. 



282 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

facts concerning the date of the origin of the Gospel and 
concerning its design. 

The facts themselves may be better understood and the 
false hypotheses more fully appreciated in the light of the 
historic changes of the times. It was almost half a cent- 
ury after the Gospel according to Luke, the last of the 
missionary Gospels, was given to the Greek Gentile world, 
that John wrote the Gospel which bears his name. In 
this interval of time the Apostles had preached the Gos- 
pel throughout the world, and they had all fallen asleep 
except John. Jerusalem had been taken by the Romans 
and the Jewish system overthrown. The Temple had 
been destroyed and its sacrifices and ritual had been abol- 
ished. The great telegraphic system which had been 
constituted by the Temple, and the synagogues had passed 
away. The Christian religion as embodied in the Church 
of Christ had taken the place of the Jewish and was ex- 
tending itself into all lands. 

The first great missionary work had therefore been 
done, and John in writing his Gospel addressed a gener- 
ation that had been taught the historical truths recorded 
by the other Evangelists and the doctrines of the Epistles 
and the Apocalypse. In fact they had in their hands all 
the books of the Old and New Testaments except the 
fourth Gospel, and were thoroughly acquainted with the 
doctrines, the sacraments, and the worship of the Chris- 
tian system. 

The last Evangelist, therefore, wrote for a generation 
of Christians. The earlier Gospels, intended for men 
unacquainted with Christian truth, intentionally presented 
to their readers onty the simpler ideas concerning God 
and Christ and redemption ; but John, writing for the 
Christian Church as a whole and for the world at large, 
could take for granted their familiarity with the earlier 
truths, and present the profounder aspects of the Gospel 



ORIGIN AND DESIGN. 283 

for which their previous training had filled the entire 
Christian Church with an intense longing. 

Design. In the light of this unique history and expe- 
rience of the age and the Church the design of the fourth 
Evangelist may best be made clear. Various aims have 
been attributed to him, most of which find some show of 
justification in the statements of the early writers. 

It has been held by some that the original design of 
this Gospel was polemic or controversial. Various here- 
sies arose in the early Church even before the death of 
the last of the Apostles. Prominent among these was 
Gnosticism, which taught that all natures, intelligent and 
material, are derived by successive emanations from the 
Deity. Against these, we are told, John was commis- 
sioned to write. In fact, Irenaeus expressly says that it 
was John's purpose to confute the Gnostic Cerinthus. 

Now it is obvious that in any full development and 
presentation of the truth it must come into necessary an- 
tagonism with error in all its forms, so that in John's 
Gospel we cannot fail to find an express opposition to all 
the theological and christological heresies of that age and 
of later ages. It is certainly true, in a very intelligible 
sense, that this Gospel was designed to meet these her- 
esies. It may even be admitted that one object before 
the mind of the Evangelist was to meet the particular 
heresy of Cerinthus. But, as Tholuck has well remarked, 
there is certainly no pervading controversial aim. Still 
more to our point is it that John distinctly declares his 
chief aim to be a different one (xx. 30, 31). The con- 
troversial aim must, therefore, have been a subordinate 
one. 

It has been held by others that the main object of the 
Evangelist was to supplement what had been already 
written. He undertook to supply the facts passed over 
in the other Gospels. 



284 JOHX, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

That John assumes that his readers are familiar with 
the ordinary traditional circle of Gospel truth is clear 
from many passages that presuppose the accounts of 
events as given in the other Gospels. It is evident, for 
example, that his declaration : " For John was not yet 
cast into prison " (hi. 24), assumes the knowledge, on 
the part of his readers, of the account of the imprison- 
ment of the Baptist given by Matthew (xi.), Mark (vi. 
14-29), and Luke (hi. 20). 1 

But that the historical completion of the three synopti- 
cal Gospels cannot be admitted to have been the specific 
aim of John may be made equally clear. The unity of 
the Gospel proves it impossible. " This Gospel," says 
Hase, " is no mere patchwork to fill up a vacant space." 
" Not even as a distinct subordinate purpose," says Tho- 
luck, " kept in view by the Evangelist throughout, can we 
perceive a design of filling out what had been omitted 
by the others. It is in conflict with such a view, in fact, 
that so much has been embraced in the fourth Gospel 
which is also found in the first three ; that not a few of at 
least apparent contradictions to them occur, which might 
have been harmonized ; that, on the other hand, the ap- 
parent contradictions between the synoptical Gospels are 
not cleared up ; that, at the point where he declares his 
purpose (xx. 30) some statement of this aim might 
justly be looked for ; and, finally, that to embrace this 
view strictly would force us to think of a literary assiduity 
of a comparatively modern stamp." The fact is that John 
adds but very little of purely historical matter, except 
the chronological outline which has been seen to be of 
such great value. But besides this there must be noted 

1 Compare also John xi. 2 with Matt. xxvi. 6-13, and Mark xiv. 3-9; 
John i. 32 with Matt. iii. 13-17, Mark i. 9-11, and Luke iii. 21, 22; John 
xviii. 2, 3 with Matt. xxvi. 14, 15, Mark xiv. 10, 11, Luke xxii. 3-6 ; John 
xxi. 15 and xiii. 36-38 with Matt. xxvi. 33, and Mark xiv. 29, for further 
illustrations of such assumptions. 



ORIGIN AND DESIGN. 285 

an entire absence of any express allusion to the other 
Evangelists, which is simply unaccountable on the hy- 
pothesis that John was a historical supplementer. 

These hypotheses take into account only the very 
fewest of the facts, in short, scarcely more than a single 
fact each. The true theory must be broad enough to 
account for all the peculiar facts of the Gospel. The view 
drawn from history meets these demands. The fourth 
Gospel was written by John in response to an appeal 
from the Church — already possessing the other Gospels 
— for a spiritual Gospel, and written with the view of 
furthering the spiritual life of the Church. 

This accounts for the fact that the Gospel actually 
meets the theological and christological heresies of that 
and after ages, — since a full development of Christian 
truth could not fail to do this. It explains the diverse 
and supplemental^^ nature of the Gospel, — since there 
was no need for the reiteration of the facts already 
recorded by the other Evangelists, and none for the 
merely missionary aspects of Gospel truth ; while there 
was a demand for a Christian theology from the lips of 
Christ himself. 

Accordingly the Church in all ages has regarded this 
as distinctively the spiritual Gospel, the special Gospel 
treasure for the Christian. This view, impressed by the 
Gospel itself, has been embodied by leading writers in 
the different ages. 

Says Origen : " We may presume then to say that the 
Gospels are the first-fruits of all the Scriptures, and the 
first-fruits of the Gospels is that of John, into whose 
meaning no man can enter, unless he has reclined upon 
the bosom of Jesus, .... and, as it were, become a 
second John." 

Says Augustine : " In the four Gospels, or rather in 
the four books of the one Gospel, the Apostle St. John, 



286 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

not undeservedly with reference to his spiritual under- 
standing compared to an eagle, has lifted higher, and 
far more sublimely than the other three, his procla- 
mation, and in lifting it up he has wished our hearts also 
to be lifted. For the other three Evangelists walked, so 
to speak, on earth with our Lord as man — of his divinity 
they said but few things ; but John, as if it oppressed 
him to walk on earth, has opened his words as it were 
with a burst of thunder, has lifted himself not only above 
earth and every sphere of sky and heaven, but even above 
every host of angels, and every order of invisible powers, 
and reaches to him by whom all things were made, as he 
says : ' In the beginning was the Word,' etc. He pro- 
claims other things in keeping with this great sublimity 
with which he begins, and speaks of the divinity of our 
Lord as no other person has spoken. He pours forth 
that into Avhich he had drunk. For not without a reason 
is it mentioned in his own Gospel, that at the feast he 
reclined upon the bosom of his Lord. From that bosom 
he had in secrecy drunk in the stream, but what he drank 
in secret he poured forth openly." 

In short no Christian can read the Gospel according 
to John without being impressed with its preeminently 
spiritual character. Accordingly, in all ages the Church 
has regarded it as her chief Gospel treasure. 

Nor can it be reasonably denied that this view is more 
in harmony with the testimony which has been brought 
from the early Christian writers. It will subsequently 
be seen to be more in accordance with the structure and 
spirit of the fourth Gospel itself. 

Date. Nor is there any good reason for doubting that 
John's Gospel was written at the close of the first cent- 
ury. The testimony of the Fathers is clear on this 
point. The progress made by the Christian Church 
rendered the Gospel necessary at that time. The argu- 



THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 287 

ment for a later date, drawn from the character of the 
doctrine embodied in it, is utterly baseless. An able 
writer has shown that the doctrinal system of John is 
precisely that of the Epistles, while it is utterly unlike 
the teachings of the writers of the second century ! 1 

To the candid historical critic the main facts have, 
therefore, the very firmest foundation. It will at once ap- 
pear that the wituesses cited are substantially the same as 
those on whom we depend for our knowledge of the origin 
of the first three Gospels, and on whom the Church de- 
pends chiefly for the establishment of the canon of the 
Scriptures. Their statements were received without 
question in the early Church. There is no sufficient 
reason for doubting them, since the witnesses were of the 
highest character, had both the ability and opportunity 
to ascertain the facts, and had no motive for perpetrating 
or perpetuating such a fraud as would be implied by the 
falsity of their statements. 

It cannot be maintained with even a show of reason 
that their statements are not in accordance with histoiy, 
and that they did not arise out of history. John, un- 
doubtedly, prepared his Gospel for the Church, for the 
purpose of presenting more fully to the Christian heart 
the character, work, and doctrine of Jesus as the light 
and life. 

SECTION n. 

THE CHARACTER AND NEEDS OF THE CHRISTIAN. 

If, as has been seen, the fourth Gospel had its origin 
in the preaching of John, after the missionary Gospels 
had been preached and the Church established through- 
out the world, then the character and needs of the Chris- 
tian most furnish the key to this Gospel. 

1 See The Doctrinal Syste7n of St, John, considered as Evidence for the 
Date of his Gospel, by the Rev. J. J. Lias, M. A. 



288 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

What manner of man was the Christian ? What were 
his spiritual needs ? The answer to these questions will 
cast light upon the Gospel prepared under the influence 
of the Holy Ghost for the Church. 

I. The Christian. 

The Christian is readily distinguished by marked 
characteristics from the natural man, whether Jew, Ro- 
man, or Greek. The Christian is the man who has heard 
the great facts of the Gospel, and who has accepted 
Jesus Christ as his Saviour. He has attained, through 
faith in Christ, to a new life which is different in its 
origin, motives, and aims, from the earthly life. This 
life, originating in divine power, leads him to complete 
submission to Christ and to entire devotion to him in the 
cause of the Gospel. He lives this spiritual life of faith 
and obedience by fixing his eyes upon the central fact of 
the cross, and through guidance and help given in the 
Scriptures or by the Holy Ghost directly from above, 
which guidance and help he ever longs to receive in in- 
creased measure. He is reaching out toward that ever- 
lasting life of glory with Christ, of which this new life 
is the beginning. 

Out of these peculiar characteristics arose those spiritual 
needs of the Christian Church which were to be met by 
the Evangelist. By the aid of them must be sought the 
full understanding of the Gospel prepared by John. 

The Man of Faith. The starting point in the Chris- 
tian life is found in the personal acceptance of Jesus 
Christ as the Saviour from sin. This act involves the 
knowledge of God and the relation of man as a sinner 
to God, and of the incarnation, work, death, and resur- 
rection of Jesus ; the belief in his divine character and 
mission ; and the practical resting of the soul on him for 
salvation. To this act the preaching of the Apostles and 



THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 289 

the promulgation of the first three Gospels brought that 
portion of the ancient world which at the close of the 
first century was found fully prepared for God's deliv- 
erer. By the grace of God the true Israelite accepted 
Jesus as his Saviour, because he found in him the Mes- 
siah, the fulfiller of the Law and the Prophets, the Em- 
manuel who was promised for his salvation ; the true 
Roman, because he found in him the Son of God, the 
almighty and universal conqueror, who was able to save 
him ; the true Greek, because he met the Greek idea of 
the perfect and divine man, who longed for the salvation 
of the race, and who had the power to save it. Thus the 
true men of all the races found in him the satisfaction of 
their spiritual wants ; and in the very act of accepting 
him they were transformed in character and life. 

The Man of the New Life. The transformation, re- 
sulting from the acceptance of Christ, introduced the 
Christian of whatsoever national extraction to a new life, 
different in its origin and motives from the mere worldly 
life. The latter has its source in the natural birth ; the 
former in the birth from heaven by the Holy Spirit. And 
when this new life in Christ is once begun, its motive 
forces are found in things heavenly rather than in things 
earthly. The Jew lost his narrow Jewish ideas, and 
turned from the prophecies of Christ and the forms and 
ceremonies to Christ himself ; the Roman ceased to care 
for the temporal king in finding the spiritual king and 
deliverer. The Greek parted with his low, humanita- 
rian ideas of perfection, in having his eyes opened to see 
the divine and universal man. They were all brought 
into one brotherhood, all alike recognizing in Jesus the 
elder brother, the spring and moving power of their new 
life, and being all alike linked in living union with him 
through faith. 

The Man of Christ. The Christian is the man who 

19 



290 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

finds the aim of his life in Christ, and who can say with 
Paul " to me to live is Christ." If by his natural birth 
a Jew, he yet sees that the Jewish life of form and cere- 
mony is no longer worthy of his soul, since in Christ's 
own example is the true ritual ; if a Roman, he sees that 
the Roman life of earthly industry and conquest and 
supremacy is no longer worthy of him, since in Christ's 
gracious work, in his victory over sin, and in his king- 
dom are to be found the true work and conquest and 
empire ; if a Greek, he sees that the Greek life of per- 
fection sought through philosophy and art is no longer 
worthy of him, since through faith in Christ, whose rea- 
son is divine, and whose beauty is divine moral excellence, 
is to be realized the perfection of humanity. Whatever 
his earthly nativity he follows Christ, obeys him, aims to 
become like him, and devotes himself to him in the work 
of advancing the kingdom of God in the conquest of sin- 
ners. He finds the centre of his system of faith and life, 
and the centre of his Christ too, in the cross. The in- 
carnate Son of God, crucified and raised from the dead, 
is the ground of all his hopes. He receives the remis- 
sion of sin through the blood of Christ. By faith he eats 
of the broken body of Christ, and drinks of his shed blood, 
partakes of the boundless grace of God to sinners, and 
especially is made the recipient of the Holy Ghost who 
is given to enlighten, renew, and sanctify the children of 
God. 

The Man of Endless Divine Life. The Christian is 
the man who expects an everlasting life with Christ be- 
yond this present life on earth. In Christ life and im- 
mortality are brought to light. As by faith in him the 
life is begun, so by continual faith in him it is sustained 
and nourished on earth, and by faith in him as the resur- 
rection and the life it is completed in the life of immor- 
tality. Even while waiting for the revelation of the 



THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 291 

glory, he is evermore found living for the invisible, spir- 
itual, and eternal, evermore reaching out after communion 
with Christ his risen, ascended, and glorified Lord. 

II. The Key to John's Gospel, 

If the character of the Christian is such as it has been 
represented, it will furnish the key to the Gospel intended 
for him. That Gospel must be suited to meet his wants. 

It was an age of great intellectual activity in which 
John wrote his Gospel. Reason was asserting its power 
and speculation was rife, and men who professed the 
faith in Christ were called to combat the errors of phil- 
osophy. It was an age of equally great worldliness, when 
there was need of asserting and vindicating the spiritu- 
ality of Christianity against the prevailing earthliness. 

The Gospel for the Christian must present Jesus as the 
revelation of God, — the word, the truth, the light, which 
the Christian needs in the new life. It must make plain 
all the great essential matters concerning the Christian 
course, so that in its light he may see clearly to avoid 
the danger, error, and death. It is obvious that the mis- 
sionary Gospels do not deal largely with these subjects, 
— do not deal with them at all, except as they have to 
do with leading men to the first acceptance of Christ and 
the beginning of the divine life in him. They leave the 
wants of this higher and peculiarly spiritual sphere for 
some later hand to supply. The fourth Gospel must in 
this sense be the supplement of the first three. 

Most assuredly, if the Christian is to be in any high 
degree intelligent, he especially needs light concerning 
the divine life which, by the grace of God, he has under- 
taken to live, — concerning its nature ; its relations to 
God and Christ ; its origin and beginnings ; the modes of 
sustaining it to its full vigor ; its mission in this world 
and its issues, after the death of the body, in the regions 



292 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

of immortality. These spiritual needs become the great 
ones with the Christian. 

To the Christian these are the credentials of Jesus, no 
less essential than prophecy to the Jew, or power to the 
Roman, or the perfection of manhood to the Greek. 
Without them his most pressing needs would be left un- 
supplied. There could, therefore, be no Gospel for him in 
any production which should omit or pass slightly over 
these grand themes of the divine and immortal life of 
faith. The Christian soul of that age — essentially the 
same as in all other ages — furnishes the key to the 
fourth Gospel. 

SECTION in. 

THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE FOURTH GOSPEL. 

The author of the fourth Gospel was peculiarly fitted 
to prepare the truth of the Gospel for the Christian. 
There is no valid reason for doubting that the Church 
from the beginning received it as the production of the 
Apostle John. 

Modern Doubts. It is only of late years that at- 
tempts have been made to destroy the faith in its genu- 
ineness. Individual skeptics, at the close of the last cent- 
ury, denied that it was the work of John ; but their attack 
merited and received but little attention. Bretschneider, 
by his " Probabilia," published in 1820 with the special 
" view of anew exciting and extending inquiry into the 
genuineness of the Johannine writings," first made the 
serious discussion of the question necessary. 

The assault has since been renewed by the Tubingen 
school of critics with Baur at their head, and has lately 
given rise to a more earnest and exciting controversy. 
Assuming " the radical difference and hostility between 
the Jewish and Gentile types of Christianity," — between 



THE AUTHORSHIP. 293 

the party of Peter and the other disciples, and that of 
Paul, — these assailants represent John's Gospel as having 
been written about the middle of the second century by 
some Gentile Christian, who aimed to bring about peace 
between the two hostile parties, and forged the name of 
John to his writing in order to give it the weight of that 
Apostle's character. Hence John's Gospel so-called is to 
be rejected. The difference between it and the first 
three Gospels is made an additional argument for its 
rejection. 

This is not the place to enter at length into the consid- 
eration of the genuineness of the fourth Gospel. Those 
who wish to read a thorough discussion of the questions 
involved may best gratify their desire by consulting some 
one or more of the able and popular works devoted to 
the subject. 

It is sufficient to note that the arguments adduced 
should have little weight with Christian men of average 
common sense. They have no basis of fact to rest upon. 
The clear testimony of all Christian antiquity is against 
them. John's Gospel can be traced back to the close of 
the first century. It exactly accords with his character. 
The theological quarrel between the Petrine and Pauline 
parties in the early Church is a myth. Moreover the 
historic view, which it is the object of the present work 
to set forth and vindicate, fully explains the characteris- 
tic differences of John's Gospel from the others, and 
shows these differences to have been a necessity if the 
practical wants of the Church, in that age, and in all sub- 
sequent ages, were to be met by the Gospel. So manifold 
and conclusive are the evidences of the authorship, that 
it would be as easy, perhaps easier, to prove that Shake- 
speare did not write " Hamlet," or even that Milton did 
not write " Paradise Lost," or that Bacon did not write 
the " Novum Organum," as to prove that the Apostle 
John did not write the fourth Gospel. 



294 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

Character and Career. That John was just the man 
to give shape to the Gospel for the Christian Church may 
readily be shown. His birth and early history ; his char- 
acter as transformed and exalted by the power of the 
Gospel ; his intimate union with his Master and his in- 
tense sympathy with him ; his long and profound Chris- 
tian experience and his wide acquaintance with the needs 
of the Church, combined to make him the fit instrument 
for the work to which he was divinely called. 

The history of John, so far as it has been recorded, is 
too familiar to require extended rehearsal. He appears 
to have been born in Bethsaida of Galilee. His father, 
Zebedee, was a respectable and well-to-do fisherman on 
the Sea of Galilee able to possess his own boats and to 
have hired servants. His mother, Salome, was one of 
those women who ministered to Jesus of their wealth, 
and who followed him to the cross. She went with 
the Marys on the morning of the resurrection to the 
sepulchre to embalm the body of Jesus. Born of such 
a mother, it is not surprising that John early became one 
of the disciples of the Baptist, nor that when the Baptist 
introduced him to Jesus he at once followed him as the 
Messiah. 

Perhaps the character of no scriptural personage has 
been more misunderstood than that of " the beloved dis- 
ciple." The idea formed of him is that he was a "soft, 
tender, almost femininely affectionate spirit." So the 
painters have manifestly conceived him, and so the 
Church has too generally regarded him. Nothing could 
be farther from the truth. Such a character would be 
poorly as possible fitted to prepare a Gospel for the 
Church. It has only the elements that win from strong 
and earnest souls a mild contempt. John was in fact the 
very best evidence, to the men of his day, of the power 
of the Gospel to harmonize the most different and appar- 
ently contradictory elements of character. 



THE AUTHORSHIP. 295 

Says a late writer : " The character of John is com- 
posed of two vastly differing elements, rarely found in 
such combination except under the transforming power 
of the Christian spirit, but found there in its perfection 
and consummation. These two elements are, very great 
masculine strength, joined with affections so overflowing 
and tender, that the strength is concealed under their 
profusion, except when occasions and emergencies bring 
it to the test. The granite is hidden under the tendrils 
that overhang it with flowers. It is only by assuming 
that these two elements are inconsistent with each other 
that the critics have raised their objections against the 
congruity of the canonical Johannean writings, whereas 
to blend them together is the great achievement of Chris- 
tianity in human nature, and the blending is most per- 
fect when the disciple leans most intimately on the bosom 
of his Lord. The combination does not impair the mas- 
culine intrepidity, but preserves and tones it, though con- 
cealing it sometimes under the mildest of womanly gen- 
tleness." 2 

That this is the true view may readily be verified. 
The rugged nature of John — sometimes verging almost 
upon savageness — was embodied in the name, " Boaner- 
ges," sons of thunder, given to him with his brother 
(Mark iii. 17) ; and was clearly manifested in the zeal 
which prompted him to call down fire from heaven on 
the Samaritan city that refused them its hospitality 
(Luke ix. 54). It appeared in the ambition which led 
him, with his brother, to seek, through their mother, the 
chief places in the magnificent temporal kingdom which 
the disciples expected (Matt. xx. 21 ; Mark x. 37) ; in 
the fact that when, at the arrest of Jesus in Gethsemane, 
the other disciples fled for their lives, the youthful John 
kept close to his master, and followed onto the judgment 

1 Sears, The Fourth Gospel the Heart of Christ, p. 65. 



296 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

scene (John xviii. 15) ; in the fact that at the cross, amid 
the raging of the multitudes, John alone was standing 
close b\^, ready to receive the dying message from his 
Lord (John xix. 26). Later, it is John who, in his 
Epistles, hurls the most terrible anathemas at the false 
teachers of his day ; and who, in the Apocalypse, pens 
the visions of the melting universe, of the assembling 
judgment, and of lost souls. 

To all this terrible power, which, unsanctified might 
have made almost a demon, his writings and history show 
that he joined a depth of tenderness equally marvelous, 
— the tenderness of no sentimentalist or weakling but 
that of one of the very strongest natures. 

Special Fitness. Such a nature, under the sanctify- 
ing power of that divine grace which softened the rug- 
gedness and exalted the tenderness, was just the nature 
needed in the man who was to prepare and present the 
Gospel truth that should lead the Christian in making 
the greatest attainments in the divine life. He was able 
to understand the heights and depths of human tempta- 
tions and trials, of human wants along the line of Chris- 
tian struggle and endeavor, and to treasure up from his 
Master's lips and appreciate the divine doctrines and mo- 
tives needed to sustain and cheer the Christian onward 
and upward toward the heavenly goal. 

It might almost be said that no other man appears 
in the original college of Apostles who could possibly 
have accomplished this great task for the Church with- 
out a radical change of nature. Most certainly Mat- 
thew had too exclusive a regard to prophecy to do such 
a work, and Peter and Mark were too exclusively active. 
John alone had that combination of intuition and rea- 
son that was needed, and that fitted him for the work 
provided he could secure the other special requisites for 
it, — such as close union with Christ and sympathy 



THE AUTHORSHIP. 297 

with him, and large acquaintance with the needs of the 
Church. 

It is a well known fact that he had the requisite union 
and sympathy with Christ. 

He belonged to that inner circle, consisting of himself, 
Peter, and James, to the members of which alone Jesus 
permitted a near view of the great crises in his life and 
work on earth, — such as the transfiguration and the 
agoiw. Among the three he was the beloved disciple, 
the disciple who leaned on Jesus' breast at the table at 
the last supper. He was one of the first to follow Jesus, 
aud he was the one to cling most closely to him to the end. 
To him was intrusted the mother, with whom in his earthly 
career Jesus had been so closely bound, and from the af- 
fecting hour on the cross to the death of her whose heart 
had been pierced with many sorrows, Mary and John 
were as mother and son. 

But more important still was the intense sympathy of 
the beloved disciple with his divine Master in his highest 
spiritual moods, views, aspirations, and purposes. 

His peculiar nature, softened and elevated by grace, 
fitted him to understand and bring forth something of the 
secret of the spiritual life of Jesus, — to give to men 
what Ernesti has called "the heart of Christ." 

It is well known that when men, differing in tempera- 
ment, culture, or experience, look upon the same land- 
scape, each takes into his mind and carries away different 
features. One sees in it the hills and valleys, lakes and 
water-courses, that remind him of some other and per- 
haps more familiar scene. Another fixes upon the 
grander features of forest and mountain, of gorge and 
cataract, which awaken in him a sense of power. A third 
takes note of the various products of art and civilization, 
the signs of the presence of man with the moulding forces 
of his reason. A fourth grasps the higher harmonies of 



298 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

nature and art, of earth and sky, in which a voice speaks 
to men declaring the presence and glory of Him who is 
of all Creator and Lord. Like these were the four Evan- 
gelists in what they saw in the grand and varied life of 
Jesus of Nazareth. John was the last. He saw for all 
the Church what the other three saw not at all, or saw 
chiefly for themselves. He heard for every Christian 
through the ages the higher truths which the others heard 
not at all, or heard chiefly for their own edification. For 
this he was fitted by his nature ; to this he was called ; 
for this he was inspired. 

Were it not for the so-called Johannean passages in 
the other Gospels, there might almost have been a doubt 
cast upon the existence of such a world of truth as John 
presents. 1 But these glimpses of the same truth prevent 
the doubt. In their missionary work the other Apostles 
had little occasion to use these higher spiritual truths, 
even if they knew and understood them. 

Still another peculiar element of fitness in John, as the 
instrument for preparing the Gospel of the Christian life, 
was his long, varied, and profound Christian experience. 

In this he was alone among the Apostles. If, as is 
generally agreed, his Gospel was not written until almost 
the close of the first century, he was ripened for it by an 
experience of nearly seventy years. In him appears the 
contemplative spirit of the early Church. For half a 
century he seems to have been comparatively silent con- 
cerning the higher truths of the Christian life, although 
doubtless brooding over them, until God's hour came. 
During three quarters of a century he lived upon the 
words of his Master, the eternal Word, — in filial inter- 
course with Mary, in spiritual communion with the 
Church, in living union with the ascended Christ, — un- 
til those words became the very thought of his thought 
1 See Matt. xi. 25-27 ; Luke x. 21, 22, etc. 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 299 

and the very life of his life, and he could give them a 
reality in the utterance such as no other man could ever 
give them. Hence it is that to-day men cling to the 
Gospel of John as the very voice of the innermost soul 
of the divine Redeemer. 

His long and wide acquaintance with the needs of the 
Church completed his fitting for his work. His knowl- 
edge of the temptations and trials, of the sufferings and 
persecutions, of the rising errors in faith and practice, in 
that age which had infolded in it the germs of all the 
ages, brought him to the clearest apprehension and fullest 
appreciation of the needs of the Christian Church, and 
enabled him to speak as directly to the innermost soul of 
the Christian as he spoke from the innermost soul of 
Christ. For the regenerated man, whether Jew, Roman, 
or Greek, he could embody in its highest form the doc- 
trine concerning Jesus Christ as the light and life. 

The impulse which led the Christian Church to ask for 
the permanent record of John's Gospel, and that which 
led the Evangelist to comply with the request, were both 
from the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of light and life. Out 
of all the men, of that age, connected with the apostolic 
body, the Holy Ghost chose the man best fitted in Chris- 
tian character and experience to prepare and write the 
Gospel for the Christian world. 



CHAPTER II. 



CRITICAL VIEW OF THE CHRISTIAN ADAPTATION OF 
THE FOURTH GOSPEL. 

The fitness of the fourth Gospel for the Christian 
Church of the apostolic age will appear from an exami- 
nation of the Gospel itself in the light of its origin, de- 
sign, and authorship. 



300 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 



SECTION I. 

THE CHRISTIAN ADAPTATION IN THE GENERAL PLAN 
OF THE FOURTH GOSPEL. 

The Gospel according to John, may be divided into 
three parts, — presenting the successive stages in the rev- 
elation of Jesus, the incarnate Word, as the light and 
life, to the faith of men, — together with an appropriate 
introduction and conclusion. 

In these divisions the character and doctrine of Jesus 
are exhibited in their connection with the necessities of 
the Church, which had been gathered out of the world 
by the proclamation of the earlier forms of the Gospel. 
The eternal Word, as incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth, is 
set forth in the progress of his highest spiritual work for 
believers throughout the world. 

OUTLINE OF THE FOURTH GOSPEL. 

INTRODUCTION". 

The Advent and Incarnation of the "Word. The 
Evangelist opens his Gospel by exhibiting Christ the 
Eternal Word, in his Divine Origin and in his manifesta- 
tion to men in the Incarnation, i. 1-13. 

A. His eternal, divine origin, and his pre-historic work 
and manifestation, i. 1-5. 

B. His manifestation to men in time. i. 6-13. 

a. As heralded by the Baptist and commended to the 
faith of the world. 6-8. 

b. As the true light, but rejected by the world and by 
his own. 9-11. 

c. As giving to those who received him power to be- 
come the children of God through faith on his name. 
12, 13. 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 301 

PART I. 

The Incarnate "Word, the only Life of the World. 
The Evangelist presents the spiritual revelations of the 
Word during the public ministry in Judaea. 

Jesus appears as the Incarnate Son of God, full of 
grace and truth, the only Life of the World. The true 
Israelites believe ; but the false reject him, and prevent 
the continuance of his work in Judaea, i. 14-vi. 71. 

Section 1. John records the testimony to the grace and 
truth of the incarnate Word, — given before the first 
Passover of the public ministry, i. 14— ii. 12. 

A. By John the Baptist, i. 15-36. 

B. By Jesus himself, — in personal intercourse and by 
the miracle at Cana. i. 37— ii. 12. 

Section 2. John records the manifestations of the spir- 
itual truth and power at the foundation of the kingdom 
of God, — and the rising faith between the first and 
second Passovers of the public ministry, ii. 13— i v. 54. 

A. In the special revelations of Jesus, as the Messiah, 
the life and light, to the Jews, as the chosen people, ii. 
13-iii. 36. 

a. To the masses and rulers, — in cleansing the Temple, 
teaching its spiritual design and presenting himself as the 
true temple and passover. ii. 13-22. 

b. To Nicodemus, a representative of the awakened 
faith among the Jews, — in teaching the doctrine of the 
new birth through the death and mediation of the Son 
of God. iii. 1-21. 

c. To the disciples of the Baptist, — in the Baptist's 
public testimony to Christ as the Son of God, and made 
by the Father, through faith, the only way of everlast- 
ing life. iii. 22-36. 

B. In the special revelation of Jesus, as the Messiah, 
the living water and the only Saviour of the world, to 



302 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

the Samaritans, — to the woman at the well, and to the 
men of Sychar. iv. 1-42. 

C. In the special revelation of Jesus, as the author of 
life, to the Galileans, — in the healing of the nobleman's 
son. iv. 43-54. 

Section 3. John records the greater subsequent mani- 
festation of Jesus in connection with two successive Pass- 
overs, in which he proclaims himself the only bread of 
eternal life, and in consequence of which many of his 
disciples forsake him and the Jews seek to kill him. v. 
1-vi. 71. 

A. To the Jews, — in Jerusalem at the second Pass- 
over of his public ministry, — as the life of the world, 
v. 1-47. 

a. In healing the impotent man on the Sabbath. 1-15. 

h. In the vindication of himself, — at the subsequent 
judicial arraignment for Sabbath-breaking, — on the 
ground of his being one with the Father and the true 
Messiah of the Scriptures. 16-47. 

B. To the multitudes, — by the Sea of Galilee, at the 
time of the third Passover, — as the only bread of eter- 
nal life. vi. 1-71. 

a. In the miraculous feeding of the five thousand and 
the stilling of the storm. 1-21. 

b. In the discourse of the following day, teaching the 
doctrine of eternal life through faith in his flesh and 
blood as the true bread of life from heaven, — leading to 
the desertion of many disciples, to the confession of the 
Twelve, and to his withdrawal from the open public 
work in Judasa. 22-71. 

PART II. 

The Incarnate Word, the Life and Light, in Conflict 
with the Spiritual Darkness. The Evangelist presents 
some of the spiritual revelations of Jesus to the unbeliev- 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 303 

ing Jews, during the period of occasional and private 
visits to Jerusalem. 

Jesus appears on various extraordinary occasions, presses 
his claims as the Son of God, the only life and light of 
the world, and rouses his enemies to successive attempts 
to destroy him. vii. 1-xi. 54. 

Section 1. John records the private visit of Jesus to 
Jerusalem, at the Feast of Tabernacles (six months be- 
fore the last Passover), — when he presents himself as 
the water of life, the light of the world, and the only Sav- 
iour from the bondage of sin. vii. 1-viii. 59. 

A. His first appearance in the Temple, — the only life 
of the world, vii. 1-viii. 1. 

a. Renewing his old claim to have come from the 
Father and to be the water of life for the thirsting 
world. 

b. Thereby raising a conflict of opinions concerning 
himself and leading the Sanhedrim to send officers to 
take him. 

B. His second appearance in the temple, — the only 
light and deliverer, viii. 2-59. 

a. Showing to the people, by the case of the adulterous 
woman, the darkness and sin of the Scribes and Pharisees, 
and contrasting himself, as the Son of God, the only Sav- 
iour of the world from the darkness and sin. 2-30. 

b. Declaring to those who believed him to be the Mes- 
siah, that he, the Son of God ever-abiding with the Father, 
alone can free them through the truth, from their bond- 
age to sin and Satan, — therebv- rousing their hatred and 
leading them to attempt to stone him. 31-59. 

Section 2. John records certain subsequent visits of 
Jesus to Jerusalem, when he presents himself as the only 
Healer of spiritual blindness, and the only Saviour of men 
through his sacrificial death, — resulting in unbelief and 
rage. ix. 1-x. 21. 



304 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

A. The restoring of sight to the man born blind, and 
the revelation of Jesus to the blinded Jews as the one Sent 
of God to heal their spiritual blindness through faith in 
himself, ix. 1-41. 

B. The claim of Jesus to be the Son of God, the Good 
Shepherd, through the laying down of whose life the sheep 
can alone find life. x. 1-21. 

C. Still later, at the feast of Dedication, the claim of 
Jesus — when urged to declare himself — that he and the 
Father are one. x. 22-42. 

a. The appeal to the works done in his Father's name 
as proof of his claims, and the reiteration of his oneness 
with the Father. 22-30. 

b. Thereby leading to another attempt to stone him, 
and to his escape across the Jordan to the Gentiles. 31- 
42. 

Section 3. John records the raising of Lazarus, when 
Jesus presents himself as the Resurrection and the Life, — 
thereby bringing the rage of his enemies to a crisis and 
hastening his own death, xi. 1-54. 

A. The death of Lazarus and the interposition of Jesus 
as the resurrection and the life. xi. 1-44. 

B. The results, — faith on the part of the people, and 
the settled purpose to destroy him on the part of the San- 
hedrim, xi. 45-54. 

PART III. 

The Incarnate "Word securing the Life of the "World 
through his Sacrificial Death. The Evangelist presents 
the bold public return of Jesus to Jerusalem, and the 
clearer spiritual revelations connected with the close of his 
career. 

Jesus, claiming to be the Messiah, voluntarily sacrifices 
himself on the cross, as the Passover of the world, xi. 
55-xix. 42. 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 305 

Section 1. John records the public return and claim 
of Jesus, together with the events which preceded and 
brought about his sacrificial death, xi. 55-xiii. 30. 

A. The crisis with the chief conspirators occurs when 
Judas and the Sanhedrim are roused to enmity, by the 
anointing for the burial at Bethany, and by the public 
entry as Messiah into Jerusalem, xi. 55-xii. 19. 

B. The crisis with the world at large is heralded by 
the coming of certain Greeks, — calling forth a renewed 
declaration of the claims of Jesus, xii. 20-50. 

a. The public announcement to the people by Jesus, 
that the hour of his glorification by the Father, and of 
his lifting up to draw all men to him, has arrived. 20- 
33. 

h. His final appeal to the people, as the only light of 
the world, the only representative of his Father, and the 
only way of everlasting life, — resulting in unbelief and 
rejection. 34-50. 

C. The crisis with the disciples is reached at the feet- 
washing, at the Passover supper, when Jesus in his 
boundless love teaches the lesson of humble service, and 
singles out and sends away Judas the betrayer, xiii. 1— 
30. 

Section 2. John records the last private teaching of 
Jesus, during the evening of his betrayal, to his own true 
disciples, containing the complete unfolding of the Chris- 
tian life. xiii. 31-xvii. 26. 

A. The discourse in the room, after the Passover sup- 
per, containing the announcement of immediate depart- 
ure and glorification, and the consolations administered, 
xiii. 31-xiv. 31. 

B. The discourse on the way to Gethsemane, concern- 
ing the new life of reconciliation with the Father, xv. 1- 
xvi. 33. 

a. Its features, starting from the vine and branches, — 

20 



306 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

the living union of believers with Christ by faith ; the 
loving union of believers with one another ; the accom- 
panying hatred by the world, xv. 1-25. 

b. Its development through the mission of the Holy 
Ghost, the Comforter (Helper), xv. 26-xvi. 15. 

c. The necessary preparation for it, in the departure of 
Jesus by the cross, thus at once winning the boundless 
favor of God the Father and overcoming the world for 
those who believe on him. xvi. 16-33. 

C. The intercessory prayer in which Jesus links the 
everlasting life with the Father and concludes his special 
spiritual revelation to his disciples, xvii. 1-26. 

Section 3. John records the voluntary surrender and 
sacrifice of Jesus, with the attendant evidences of his 
being the Messiah, the light and life of the world, xviii. 
1-xix. 42. 

A. Jesus voluntarily surrenders himself into the hands 
of his enemies the unbelieving Jews, xviii. 1-xix. 16. 

a. The betrayal and apprehension, — in which he 
shows his power over his enemies and his omnipotence, 
and declares his purpose to drink " the cup of his Father." 
xviii. 1-11. 

b. The trial before the Jewish authorities, in the pres- 
ence of John, the faithless Peter, and others, — in which 
he solemnly reiterates his claims made before the people 
in his teachings, xviii. 12-27. 

c. The trial before the Gentile ruler, Pilate, — to 
whom he is revealed as Messiah, the King of the Jews, 
by the power of truth, and as the Son of God possessing 
all power ; by whom he is repeatedly declared innocent 
and yet is delivered up to the Jews to be crucified, xviii. 
28-xix. 16. 

B. Jesus voluntarily yields himself up to his execu- 
tioners and is crucified as " Jesus of Nazareth the King 
of the Jews," fulfilling the prophecies concerning Messiah 



THE GENERAL PLAN. 307 

in his experience in finishing the sacrificial work. xix. 
17-30. 

C. Jesus yields himself to death and the grave as 
Messiah, xix. 31-42. 

CONCLUSION. 

The Incarnate Word, Crucified and Risen, the Sav- 
iour and Lord of all Believers. The Evangelist pre- 
sents the manifestations of the risen Saviour to the faith 
of his followers, — establishing his identity, and the re- 
ality of his presence of sympathy and power with his 
Church in all ages. xx. 1-xxi. 25. 

Section 1. John records certain appearances of Jesus 
to the disciples, after his resurrection, designed to com- 
fort them and to lead to faith in him and to life through 
his name. xx. 1-31. 

A. To Mary Magdalene, before his (first) ascension 
to his Father, — to comfort her in her sorrow, xx. 1-18. 

B. To the disciples, with Thomas absent, in secret 
gathering in the upper chamber in Jerusalem, — to give 
peace in their trouble and to assure them of the gift of 
the Holy Ghost, xx. 19-23. 

C. To the eleven disciples, in the same place, on the 
next Lord's day, — to relieve the difficulties of the doubt- 
ing Thomas, xx. 24-29. 

D. To the disciples, with many other signs, not re- 
corded, but intended to work faith in Christ as the Son of 
God, and to lead to life through his name. xx. 30-31. 

Section 2. John records the most extraordinary of 
Christ's manifestations, — that by the Sea of Tiberias, 
— completely establishing his identity and Messiahship, 
and preparing for the future work of his Church, xxi. 
1-25. 

A. The miracle of the draught of fishes, revealing Jesus 
to the faith of his disciples, who under the lead of Peter 
had returned to their old occupation, xxi. 1-14. 



308 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

B. The restoration of the backslidden Peter, and the 
delineation of his future work and destiny, xxi. 15-19. 

C. The career of John marked out, and his final testi- 
mony to the truth of his Gospel, xxi. 20-25. 



SECTION II. 

THE CHRISTIAN ADAPTATION IN THE CENTRAL IDEA OF 
THE FOURTH GOSPEL. 

The outline of the gospel according to. John, with its 
marks of the Christian aim of the Evangelist, will assist 
in making it apparent that this Gospel agrees, in its cen- 
tral idea and general drift, with the testimony of history 
that it was produced and published especially for Chris- 
tian readers. 

I. The Central Idea. 

Starting out with this view of the aim of the fourth 
Gospel, it is easy to trace the governing idea throughout 
its extent and in all the prominent features. 

The central idea of the Gospel, as stated by the Evan- 
gelist himself, is found in the divine life which has its 
origin in faith in Jesus as the Christ, the incarnate Son 
of God. He distinctly states that his selection of mate- 
rial was made with this end in view : " And many other 
signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which 
are not written in this book, but these are written, that ye 
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; 
and that believing, ye might have life through his name " 
(xx. 80, 31). 

It is evident from the needs of the Christian as already 
presented, that the Evangelist who would lead him to a 
higher and fuller life must present Jesus in his relations 
to the life of faith. John accordingly presents his char- 



THE CENTRAL IDEA. 309 

acter, not as the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy, nor 
as the personal embodiment of the Son of God, the al- 
mighty worker and conqueror, nor as the perfect and uni- 
versal man, but as the eternal, divine Word, incarnate, 
crucified, and risen from the dead, the object of faith and 
the source of life. 

The contrast is doubtless sometimes too sharply drawn 
between John, as the Gospel of the Son of Grod, and the 
other Gospels ; for while in the former Jesus more ex- 
pressly and frequently declares himself the Son of God, 
the latter always assume his Deit}^, often demonstrate it, 
and are utterly unintelligible except upon its admission. 
Nevertheless the ground of the contrast is real. The 
Christian consciousness affirms that the same thing is 
true of the contrast in spirituality between John's Gospel 
and the others, — it may be too sharply drawn, but every 
chapter and verse shows it to be real. In short, the 
fourth Gospel is everywhere the manifestation of Christ 
as the spiritual light for the building up of the spiritual 
life of believers. Ernesti might have said that it is the 
heart of Christ in its most direct appeal to the faith of 
the Christian heart, for every part of it bears the marks 
of its Christian aim. 

That this is the Gospel of the incarnate Son in his re- 
lation to the divine life in man is made manifest every- 
where. Its teachings would have been unintelligible to 
the men of that age without the more external and elemen- 
tary teachings of the first three Evangelists. It presup- 
poses the previous practical acceptance of Christ as the 
Saviour by those to whom it was addressed. It is the 
Gospel of faith, of life, of love. 

This is the Gospel which gives the Christian the req- 
uisite instruction concerning the secret springs and laws 
of the life of faith and obedience to God, and concerning 
the mission of the Holy Ghost as man's divine helper in 



310 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

that life. It is obvious that these teachings are given 
nowhere else in the Gospels with such fullness, clearness, 
and directness. In short, all the great moving and con- 
trolling principles of the Christian life are here alone given 
in the form needed to prepare the way for an intelligent 
Christian career. 

This is peculiarly the Gospel of everlasting life. It 
regards the divine life begun in the Christian soul as the 
germ of an endless life of purity and blessedness. It 
most clearly reveals in Christ the resurrection and the 
life, and the lifting up of even man's body from the grave 
to immortality. It alone, therefore, meets the longing 
of the renewed soul for the endless life in the heavenly 
mansions in perfect union and communion with God. 

This is the Gospel of the risen and living Christ. It 
is to be remarked that in John's Gospel the perpetual 
ministrations of the risen and living Christ are brought 
out in the closing chapters as nowhere else in the Gos- 
pels. These chapters are accordingly among the most 
precious treasures of the Word of God. 

These varied relations of Christ to the Christian, appear 
throughout the fourth Gospel, as will be seen more 
clearly in its further consideration. 

II. General Drift. 

The presence of this central Christian idea manifests 
itself everywhere in the general movement of the fourth 
Gospel. It may be seen in the entire plan and in all the 
parts. 

The Introduction exhibits our Lord, not as in Matthew, 
the Son of David, not as in Mark, the mighty conqueror, 
not as in Luke, the Son of man, but as the Son of God 
incarnate. As such, he is the Word, the Life, the Light, 
the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 
He is the Only Begotten which is in the bosom of the 



THE CENTBAL IDEA. 311 

Father ; in short, he is God. The Word is made flesh 
and is rejected by many, but received by some who be- 
come in consequence the sons of God. 

In these aspects he is presented throughout the Gos- 
pel. 

In Part First, the Evangelist unfolds the spiritual mani- 
festations of Jesus in the public ministry in Judaea. He 
appears during this period, especially to the faithful in 
the world, as the incarnate Son, the only life of the 
world, revealing the glory of God and a supernatural 
fullness of grace and truth, and meeting with rising faith 
and unbelief. The faithful ones who were waiting for his 
coming are found in the Baptist and his disciples, in such 
believing Jews as Nicodemus, in the woman of Samaria 
and her Samaritan neighbors, and in the Galilean noble- 
man ; the enemies who meet him with persecution are 
found in the Jews at Jerusalem and in Galilee, who by 
seeking his life occasion his withdrawal from public work 
in Judaea. 

In Part Second, the Evangelist exhibits some of the 
teachings of Jesus to the unbelieving Jews, during the 
period in which he visits Jerusalem only occasionally and 
privately. In these instructions Jesus presses upon them, 
with ever-increasing plainness and energy, his claim to 
be the Son of God, coequal with the Father, and through 
his sacrificial death the only source of light and freedom 
and life to men in their darkness and slavery and death, 
the only hope of a lost world. These teachings enrage 
the Jews beyond measure, and prepare them for his 
murder. 

In Part Third, the Evangelist gives those last and clear- 
est manifestations of Jesus as the light and life, made in 
connection with the close of his career. Jesus, as he 
voluntarily moves toward the cross, presents his claims in 
the fullest manner before all classes in Jerusalem, and re- 



312 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

veals to his disciples on the evening of the betrayal the 
great doctrines of the Christian system and life. He 
then completes his sacrifice by yielding himself np to his 
enemies, to the cross, and to the power of death and the 
grave, — declaring with his closing breath that the work 
of redemption is " finished." 

The Conclusion furnishes a fit completion of what the 
other portions have thus far carried forward. It mani- 
fests the risen Saviour to the faith of his followers, — 
establishing his bodily identity and the reality of his 
divine and human sympathy and power with his Church 
in all ages. These last two chapters of John, in present- 
ing the risen Christ as the comforter of the weeping 
Magdalene, the peace-giver to the troubled band of dis- 
ciples, the helper of the doubting Thomas, the pro- 
vider for the fasting fishermen, the restorer of the back- 
slidden Peter, and the rewarder of the faithful John, have 
ministered abundantly of like help to the faith of the 
people of God in all ages, and made the Church certain 
that it trusts not in a dead but in a living Saviour. 

This Jesus, — who is not only the finisher of Judaism 
and the inheritor of all Jewish perfections, not only the 
satisfaction of the Roman idea in surpassing the best and 
mightiest of the Caesars, not only the more than realiza- 
tion of the Greek ideal of manhood in being the perfect, 
divine man, but also the Incarnate Word, the perfect Re- 
vealer of God and eternal Life to a lost world, — this 
Jesus is the one whom John represents in his Gospel. 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 813 



sectiox ni. 

THE CHRISTIAN ADAPTATION IN THE OMISSIONS AND 
ADDITIONS OF THE FOURTH GOSPEL. 

I. The Omissions of the Fourth Gospel. 

The Christian aim of the fourth Gospel appears espe- 
cially in its omissions of facts and truths made prominent 
iu the other Gospels. 

As John contemplated the wants of the Church, in 
which there was properly no longer a distinction between 
Jew, Roman, and Greek, he had no need for the material 
presented in the missionary Gospels, and especially de- 
signed to commend Jesus to sinners in the representative 
races of the age. Even upon the assumption — at most 
but partially warranted — that the Jewish, Roman, and 
Greek Christians were still chiefly familiar with the 
Gospel prepared for each of them respectively, it is still 
true that the facts of the other and unfamiliar Gospels 
were not absolutely necessary for those to whom they 
had not been given. The peculiar facts of Mark and 
Luke would have added little toward producing convic- 
tion in the mind of the Jew who had Matthew's Gospel. 
The same is true of the facts of Matthew and Luke with 
reference to the Roman who had Mark's Gospel ; and of 
those of Matthew and Mark with reference to the Greek 
who had Luke's Gospel. 

Accordingly we have almost a clear sweep of omission, 
— none of the leading events detailed by the other Gos- 
pels, with a single exception, being recorded by John 
until he reaches the history of the Passion and the 
Resurrection, without which no Gospel could be written. 
That exception, in which John coincides with the synop- 
tic Gospels, is the feeding of the five thousand (vi. 1- 



314 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

24), retained in order to prepare for the discourse to 
which it gave rise, and in which Christ presented him- 
self as the bread of life given to the world from heaven 
by the Father. Besides this the mere fact of the com- 
ing of Jesus to Bethany is retained (xii. 1), to explain 
the treachery of Judas connected with it, and for the 
instructive lessons conveyed in the anointing at that 
place. 

This almost entire omission of the material found in 
the other Gospels is what would naturally be expected in 
a later and spiritual Gospel. Quite another Gospel, as 
Da Costa has said, must that one be which omits the 
human genealogy and divine origin of Jesus as Messiah, 
his early experience and preparation for his Messianic 
work, the Sermon on the Mount, the series of miracles 
and parables, and all the other treasures embodied for 
the Jew by Matthew in the first Gospel ; the rapid and 
vivid progress of the Captain of our salvation in his work 
of conquering the world, as embodied by Mark for the 
Roman ; the coming down of heaven to earth at the 
birth of John and Jesus, the marvelous exhibitions of 
the human tenderness of the divine man, the matchless 
system of parables unfolding the love of God to univer- 
sal humanity, and all the other treasures embodied by 
Luke for the Greek, — quite another Gospel, and yet a 
Gospel with an aim just as marked and vastly higher. 
It passes by these facts, which appeal to the senses of 
the unspiritual man, to unfold that word of life which 
speaks to the soul of the spiritual man. 

II. The Additions of the Fourth Gospel. 

Still more clearly does the Christian aim of John's Gos- 
pel appear from the additions which he makes to the ma- 
terial furnished by the other Evangelists. These addi- 
tions may be looked upon as made up of narratives of 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 315 

works of power and words of instruction, or as the em- 
bodiment of the doctrines of the Christian theology. 

"Works of Power. The fourth Gospel is only subordi- 
nately a record of outward events. Only six of our Lord's 
miracles are recorded in it ; but these are all of the most 
remarkable kind, and surpass all the rest in depth, in spe- 
cialty of application, and in fullness of instruction. Of 
these six, only one is found in the other three Gospels, — 
the feeding of the five thousand (vi. 1-15). The reason 
for John's recording it appears in another connection. 

The peculiarities of the other five are very striking. 
They furnish a higher display of power over the ordinary 
laws and course of nature, than do the miracles of the 
other Gospels. John alone records the first of all the 
miracles that Jesus wrought, the changing of water into 
wine at Cana (ii. 1-11), in which without even the utter- 
ance of a word he transforms the very nature of the sub- 
stance with which he deals. He records that of the noble- 
man's son (iv. 48-54), cured by Jesus at a distance from 
Cana. Out of the many cures of the lame and the pal- 
sied by the word of Jesus, he selects that of the man who 
had suffered from an infirmity thirty and eight years (v.), 
a case of the most utter friendlessness and of the most 
abject weakness, helplessness, and hopelessness. Out of 
the innumerable cures of the blind he chooses the case of 
the person who had been born blind (ix.), which was such 
a case as men had never known to be cured (ix. 32). He 
gives " the restoration of Lazarus to life, not from a death- 
bed, like the daughter of Jairus ; not from a bier for the 
dead, like the young man of Nain, but from the grave, 
when, having lain buried there for four days, he had al- 
read}^ begun to sink into corruption (xi.). Lastly, from 
among the signs and wonders which Jesus did while still 
upon the earth after his resurrection, and which are no- 
where else recorded by the Evangelists, we have one ex- 



316 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

ample, in the miraculous draught of fishes on the sea of 
Tiberias (xxi.), when the disciples, at the command of 
their risen Lord, had thrown out the net on the right side 
of the ship, and Simon Peter went up, and dreiv the net 
to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three ; 
and for all there were so many, yet was not the net 
broken" 1 

Still, John does not record these works simply because 
they are so wonderful ; but because their extraordinary 
character made them so much the better signs of the mar- 
velous things of God, and led Jesus to connect with them 
his profoundest spiritual reasonings, discourses, and con- 
versations, alike with friends and foes, with his disciples 
and with the multitude. 

The miracle at the wedding in Cana furnished the oc- 
casion for Jesus to define his relation, in his divine mis- 
sion, to Mary, his earthly mother, and to exercise his cre- 
ative energy in sanctioning the marriage relation and the 
home ; while showing forth his own glory, and confirming 
the faith of his early followers. The healing of the man 
at the pool of Bethesda, occurring on the Sabbath-day, 
leads, not (as repeatedly happens in the case of the other 
Evangelists) to a single saying, but to a whole series of 
statements and instructions from the Saviour, respecting 
himself and his relation to the Father. The account of 
the opening of the eyes of the man born blind furnishes 
the vehicle for all the eminently spiritual teachings con- 
tained in the conversations between Jesus and the man 
whom he had healed, between the latter and the Phari- 
sees, and between the Jews and the man's parents. With 
the narrative of the raising of Lazarus from the dead, the 
Evangelist has linked the clear and sublime teachings it 
occasioned concerning the doctrine of the resurrection, the 
account of the effect of the miracle upon the Jewish au- 

1 The Four Witnesses, p. 238. 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 317 

thorities, and the story of the supper at Bethany when 
Mary anointed him for his burial and Judas and the chief 
priests determined upon his destruction. In short, one 
half of that portion of the Gospel of John which precedes 
the triumphal entry into Jerusalem is directly connected 
with the first five of these extraordinary miracles. The 
sixth and last, on the sea of Tiberias, prepares for the in- 
troduction of that wonderful conference of Christ with his 
disciples, in which he restores the fallen Peter, and makes 
his last revelation concerning the future of the Church. 

"Words of Instruction. The statements brought out 
in connection with the miracles of John's Gospel show 
it to be more properly a narrative of spiritual instruction 
than a record of historical events. 

It will appear on examination that, with the exception 
of the miraculous events already noticed and those cen- 
tring in the crucifixion, the Gospel is made up of conver- 
sations and discourses of Jesus, and summations of truth 
by the Evangelist himself. The latter may be illustrated 
by the testimonies to the divine character of Jesus which 
John gathers up from the Baptist and the early disciples 
(i., iii.) ; and by the account of the intercourse with Jesus 
after the resurrection (xx., xxi.). The former comprise 
the conversations with Nicodemus (iii.), with the Samar- 
itan woman (iv.), with the Jews in the Temple at the 
feast of Tabernacles (vii., viii.), with the Jews in the 
Temple in Solomon's Porch at the feast of Dedication 
(x.) ; and the discourses concerning the shepherd and the 
sheep (x.), and the great series connected with the last 
Passover (xii.-xvii.). 

But notwithstanding the predominance of instruction, it 
will be apparent to the careful observer that the personal 
and conversational element enters almost everywhere even 
into the discourses. Nowhere in the Gospels does the in- 
tense personality of Jesus so impress itself upon every- 



318 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

thing as in the last. He himself appears everywhere, in 
the events and the teachings, as the way, the truth, the 
life, the ever-present incarnate Son of God. In short, 
though so preeminently spiritual, no production of any 
age has ever been found more marked by a thorough and 
all-pervasive realism. 

It might readity be shown that the great spiritual 
truths, which have been seen to be central to John, light 
up everything in his Gospel and decide and give color to 
every verse and sentence. 

The Christian Doctrines. But preeminently is the 
fourth Gospel to be regarded as the embodiment of the 
theology of the Christian Church. This aspect of it may 
best be brought out by a systematic view of the truth in 
connection with the work of redemption and the Chris- 
tian life. 

The great doctrines are those concerning God, Christ, 
the condition of man, the redemption provided in the in- 
carnation and propitiation, the mission of the Holy Spirit, 
and the resurrection and final judgment. On all these 
points the fourth Gospel is greatly in advance of the 
other three, although in entire agreement with the teach- 
ing of the Epistles and the Apocalypse. 

God, John teaches, from the lips of Jesus himself, 
that " God is spirit " (not a spirit, for the article is 
neither expressed nor implied in the original), meaning by 
this, that He is the divine life-principle in itself (iv. 24). * 
He is beyond the range of the mortal senses : " No man 
hath seen God at any time " (i. 18 ; vi. 46). " Ye have 
neither heard his voice, nor seen his shape " (v. 37). It 
needed the revelation of the only-begotten Son, who ex- 

1 See Lias, The Doctrinal System of St. John, p. 17. The Greek word for 
spirit (-Tn/evfxa) "means either (1) a life-principle of whatever kind ; (2) the 
Divine life-principle in itself ; (3) the Divine life-principle in man." John 
uses it here in the second sense. 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 319 

isted in his bosom from all eternity, to make him clearly 
known to the world (i. 18). His worship is not, there- 
fore, to be confined to one place, Mount Zion or Mount 
Gerizim, but He is to be worshiped in spirit (or by 
spirit and not by mere form) and in truth, and his real 
temple henceforth is to be, not at Jerusalem, but wherever 
true worshipers are to be found in the whole world 
(iv. 21-24). 

But God is not a mere abstract principle, underlying 
the world ; He is a person, a Father, capable of love, 
care, tenderness (iii. 16). He is the source of all being 
whether uncreated or created. From him the eternal 
Son derives his being (v. 26). From him the Spirit of 
truth is sent (xiv. 16). From him, through the instru- 
mentality of the Son, all things have derived their being 
(i. 3). As the Father he is the fountain of redemption: 
" God (the Father, as the sense requires) so loved the 
world that he gave his only-begotten Son " (iii. 16). He 
sends the Son (v. 37), commits his prerogatives into his 
hands (v. 22), bears witness to him (viii. 18). The Son 
came into the world to do his will (vi. 38), his pleasure 
(viii. 29), his work (xvii. 4). The Father and the Son 
are one (x. 30), not in a unity of personal existence, but 
in the possession of a common being and life (xvii. 11, 
21, 22). The Father is the source of all life, " the living 
Father " (vi. 57). He has imparted this life to his Son, 
and through him it is communicated to all creatures (v. 
26 ; i. 4, 18). The children of God are born of his will 
(i. 14). He is light, the power which illuminates the 
whole being of man. 

So God the Father is the end of all being no less than 
its source. The life flowing from him enfolds in the end 
not only the Trinity itself, but all who are bound together 
by the indwelling of God. " The ultimate result of 
Christ's work, as declared by himself in the fourth Gos- 



320 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

pel, would seem to be a merging all the redeemed into 
the being of God, not in a pantheistic annihilation of all 
personality, but by bringing each personal soul, while in 
full and glad realization of its own separate consciousness, 
into a complete union, not only of will and affections, 
hopes and desires, but of being also with the Infinite Au- 
thor of all " (xvii.). 

The Person of Christ. Jesus is the Word (the Logos), 
the Revealer of God (i. 1). The word is the revelation 
of the thought, its incarnation, as it were, in order to 
convey it to the mind of another. The word in the 
Greek is also the reason of anything, " the unfolding of 
its true nature and meaning to him who knows it not." 
Jesus Christ claimed to be the Revealer of the Father 
(xiv. 9 ; Matt. xi. 27 ; Luke x. 22), and this is best ex- 
pressed by his title, the Word. 

His relation to the Father is absolutely unique. He 
came forth from the Father (xvi. 28), he ever turns his 
face toward Him (vrpos tov ©edv), 1 and he is himself very 
God (i. 1). In the bosom of the Father from all eter- 
nity, he is yet personally distinct from him (i. 1, 18 ; 
viii. 58 ; xvii. 5, 24), the only-begotten Son (i. 14, 18 ; 
iii. 16, 18). In his work he is subordinate to the Father 
(xiv. 28), he is sent by the Father (iv. 34 ; v. 23, 24, 
30, 37, 38 ; vi. 39, 44, etc.), receives his name, the sym- 
bol of his power and greatness, from the Father (xvii. 
II), 2 ascribes his power to the Father (v. 26, 19, 20, 22, 
27 ; xvii. 22). Yet he declares himself one with the 

1 Liddon, Bampton Lectures, Lect. v. p. 342. The Greek is not, "the 
Word was with God," but " toward God,'" — " expressing the more signifi- 
cant fact of perpetual intercommunion. The Face of the Everlasting 
Word, if we may dare so to express ourselves, was ever directed towards 
the Face of the Everlasting Father." 

2 The Doctrinal System of St. John, p. 41. According to the best sup- 
ported reading in John xvii. 11, the prayer of Christ is: "Holy Father, 
keep them by thine own name which thou hast given me." 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 321 

Father and equal with him (v. 17, 18 ; x. 30, 33). The 
Father is in him and he in the Father (x. 38 ; xiv. 9, 10, 
20 ; xvii. 21, 23). Though on earth he is in heaven 
(iii. 13). Though from the Father he is yet self-ex- 
istent (v. 26). 

His relation to man evinces his unity with the Father. 
The life for lost man was in him (i. 4), and communi- 
cated by him (iii.). He is full of grace and truth (i. 14), 
he preaches the truth (viii. 40, 45), and he is the truth 
itself (xiv. 6). Whosoever has seen him has seen the 
Father also (vi. 46 ; x. 15 ; xiv. 9). Through his union 
with the Father, all power is given him (iii. 35 ; xiii. 
3 ; ii. 2), he gives life to whom he will (v. 22, 25), he 
presents himself as an example for men to copy (xiii. 
11), and he challenges the Jews to find a single blemish 
in his character (viii. 46). 

On the other hand he is represented as a human be- 
ing, and subject to the ordinary weaknesses and wants 
of men. When he fasted he was hungry and ate (ii. 1 ; 
xiii. 2 ; xxi. 12). When he traveled he was thirsty 
and weary (iv. 6). Being grieved he wept (xi. 35), 
and being crucified he died. He had a peculiarly human 
friendship and affection for the beloved disciple (xix. 
26) and for the household in Bethany (vi. 5). He 
remembered the claims of filial duty even in that 
hour of supreme solemnity on the cross (xix. 26, 27). 
" ' Woman, behold thy son,' is an exclamation which, 
uttered at such a moment, places beyond a doubt that 
the Gospel which sets forth most strongly the Divinity of 
Christ was also penetrated with the most clear apprehen- 
sion of his humanity." 

The Condition of Man. Before the grace of God be- 
stowed upon him the enabling power of the light of life, 
man was in darkness, unprepared to appreciate or receive 
the blessings Christ came to give (i. 5, 10, 11). Many 

21 



322 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

even preferred darkness to light* (iii. 19, 21), and were 
moved to opposition to Christ's teaching and to persecu- 
tion of his followers, b} T his works of divine power (xii. 
37, 40), and by the elevation of himself and his followers 
above the world (xv. 19 ; xvii. 14, 16). The state of 
mind which leads to such results u John denotes by the 
word flesh (o-ap£, iii. 6 ; viii. 15, etc.), and it is placed in 
the sharpest antagonism to that possession of an inner 
life, breathed into the heart by divine influence, which 
is denominated by the word spirit ^-n-vev/xa^ i. 13 ; iii. 
5, etc.). From this condition of alienation from God, 
man cannot deliver himself; he needs an intervention 
from above to rescue him from the empire of dark- 
ness." 1 

Doctrine of the Incarnation. Christ came to en- 
lighten this darkness, and to deliver man from this living 
death which, it involved. " In him was life, and the life 
was the light of men" (i. 4). "The true light, which 
lighteth every man, was now coming into the world" (i. 
9). Such are the announcements with which the Gospel 
opens. He came that men might have life, and " that 
the}?- might have it more abundantly " (x. 10). He 
gives life to whom he will (v. 21). He is himself the 
life (xi. 25 ; xiv. 6). He is the light of the world (viii. 
12 ; ix. 5 ; xii. 35, 36, 46). Such are the statements 
with which the Gospel is filled. 

In transforming the flesh into the spirit, Jesus Christ 
imparts a breath from God to man to give him a new 
life (xv. 26). In entering into the kingdom of God 
man is born anew by the Holy Spirit (iii. 5), and his 
entire nature and relation to God are changed (iii. 6, 7, 
8). In connection with this new birth, even the words of 

1 See The Doctrinal System of St. John, p. 67. The work of Profes- 
sor Lias contains an admirable summary of the doctrines of the fourth 
Gospel. 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 323 

Christ, being in a sense the breath of God, are endued, 
though in an inferior degree, with a kind of divine vital- 
ity (vi. 63). 

The foundations of this new life are laid in the flesh 
and blood of Christ, that is, in his incarnation and in his 
sacrifice on the cross (vi. 51-58). 

It is by virtue of his incarnation, or his partaking of 
human nature, that he becomes the source of life to the 
world. He is the vine and his disciples are the branches 
(xv.). A constant stream of life flows from him through 
them, a life which is governed by the same laws as man's 
natural life. It reaches its maturity by means of growth 
through nourishment. Its food is Christ, the living 
bread which came down from heaven (vi. 51), who is a 
source of permanent life to the world (vi. 58). The 
operating principle of this divine life is faith in Christ 
(iii. 18, 36 ; vi. 29, 47 ; xx. 31). This faith leads to 
good works. By union with Christ, the vine, alone, a 
union effected by faith, can the branches become fruit- 
ful (xv. 4), and by abiding in him alone can they in- 
crease in fruitfulness (xv. 5, etc.). The new life of faith 
leads to purity and truth (xiii. 10 ; xv. 3 ; xvii. 19), and 
to mutual love (xiii. 35 ; xvii. 26). It makes men again 
the children of God, and gives them a claim upon his love 
(xvi. 26, 27), and access to him in prayer (xiv. 13 ; xv. 
7, 16 ; xvi. 23-27). It makes them the channels of bless- 
ing to others (vii. 37), the representatives of Christ in a 
mission for the saving of mankind (xiii. 20; xx. 21). 

The kingdom of God, in John's view of it, assumes a 
new and more spiritual form. Jesus no longer confines 
himself to language which expresses only external rela- 
tions. He does indeed speak of himself as a shepherd 
and his disciples as sheep (x.), and of the gathering of 
many flocks into one fold (x. 16) ; but he prefers to de- 
scribe his kingdom as an organic whole, and he constantly 



324 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

recognizes " a deep interior unity, the result of the pos- 
session by its members of a life which they all enjoy in 
common, and which they all derive from him" (xv.). 
In the intercessory prayer (xvii.), he traces that union to 
its highest source, in the unity of the Godhead itself. 
lie prays " that they all may be one ; as thou, Father, art 
in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us " 
(xvii. 21). Herein in reality are to be found the com- 
munion of saints and the kingdom of God, in the living 
union of believers through Christ with the Father. 

But back of the doctrine of the restoration of man 
through the implanting of a divine life by the incarna- 
tion of Christ, there lies throughout John's Gospel the 
doctrine of propitiation by the sacrifice of Christ. Sin 
is regarded not simply as a disease, from which the in- 
fusion of a new life could save, but rather as deliberate 
and willful disobedience to the righteous and everlasting 
Ruler of the universe. Without shedding of blood there 
is no remission of sin (Lev. xvii. 11 ; Heb. ix. 22). Hence 
it is that John introduces Jesus to the reader in the 
words of the Baptist : " Behold the Lamb of God that 
taketh away the sin of the world " (i. 29). There was 
an absolute necessity that the Son should be " lifted up " 
(iii. 14, 15) if he should " draw all men unto him " (xii. 
32). He lays down his life for the sheep (x. 11, 15). 
He is identified with the Paschal Lamb (xix. 36), by the 
sprinkling of whose blood upon the door posts the Is- 
raelites could alone be saved from destruction (Exod. 
xii. 13). He is the propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of 
the world, so that by partaking of his flesh and blood 
the world may be saved. 

The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit. It has been seen 
that Luke's teaching concerning the Holy Ghost is 
greatly in advance of that of Matthew and Mark ; but it 
nowhere approaches the definiteness of John's. With 



OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS. 825 

the latter he is the applier of the redemption wrought by 
Christ. He is sent by Christ from the Father (xv. 26 ; 
xvi. 7, 8). By John alone is he named the Paraclete, or 
the Comforter, as our version has it, or the Helper, as the 
word would, perhaps, be better rendered (xiv. 16, 26 ; 
xv. 26 ; xvi. 7). He is a Person, associated with the 
Father and the Son, sent into the world to convince men 
of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment (xvi. 8). He 
is the Spirit of truth who is to lead the disciples of Christ 
into all truth (xiv. 17 ; xvi. 13). He is to give life to 
all who enter into the kingdom of God (hi. 5). From 
the time of Christ's ascension he was to be the present 
source of power with Christ's followers (vii. 39 ; xvi. 7 ; 
xx. 22, 23). He was to be the living water which should 
spring up unto everlasting life in their souls (iv. 14 ; vii. 
38). The mightier works which the disciples were to do, 
after Christ's departure (xiv. 12), were to be done by the 
power of the Holy Ghost. He was the divine Person 
whom Christ went away to the Father to send, and with- 
out whose coming the work of redemption could not have 
been carried out (xvi. 7). 

The Resurrection and Judgment. John teaches most 
clearly both the fact and the cause of the resurrection. 
" Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming and 
now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of 
God and they that hear shall live " (v. 25). This is the 
teaching throughout the Gospel (v. 28, 29 ; vi. 39, 40, 
44, 54, etc.). " I am the resurrection and the life : he 
that believeth on me though he were dead, yet shall he 
live : and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall 
never die " (xi. 25, 26). That Christ is the cause of the 
resurrection from the dead is the uniform doctrine of 
John (x. 18 ; xii. 24 ; xiv. 6, etc.). 

The fourth Gospel is equally clear on the doctrine of 
the judgment and of the future life. " Marvel not at 



326 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

this : for the hour is coming in the which all that are in 
the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth ; they 
that have done good unto the resurrection of life ; and 
they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damna- 
tion " (v. 28, 29). To come forth from the grave is, 
therefore, to come forth to judgment, and there are but 
two future estates. Those estates have their beginning 
in this present life, the one in faith in Christ, and the 
other in the rejection of him : " He that believeth on 
him is not condemned ; but he that believeth not is con- 
demned already, because he hath not believed on the 
name of the only-begotten Son of God " (iii. 18). For 
those who believe on him are the words of Christ : " In 
my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not 
so I would have told you. I go and prepare a place 
for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will 
come again and receive you unto myself ; that where I 
am, there ye may be also (xiv. 2, 3). 

Such, in brief outline, is the doctrinal system of John's 
Gospel. It is the profoundest of Christian theology, — its 
truths ranging, in the revelations of the incarnate Word, 
from the lowest depths of the dark and carnal condition 
of humanity to the loftiest heights of Divinit}^, compass- 
ing, in the preexistent Word and the everlasting life, the 
two eternities, and sweeping the whole horizon of Chris- 
tian faith, purpose, endeavor, achievement, and hope. It 
is the essential element in just the Gospel for the Chris- 
tian, the man of faith in Christ. 

Both the omissions and additions of this Gospel are 
thus seen to famish evidence of the Christian aim of the 
Evangelist. 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 327 



SECTION IV. 

THE CHRISTIAN ADAPTATION IN THE INCIDENTAL 
VARIATIONS OP THE POURTH GOSPEL. 

The adaptation of John's Gospel to the Christian needs 
appears also in the manifold minor variations and pecul- 
iarities. 

I. Incidental Variations. 

Narrative Changes. The Christian aim may be traced 
in the narratives given by John in common with the 
other Evangelists. 

There is but one such narrative before the record of 
the triumphal entry into the Holy City, — the miracu- 
lous multiplication of the loaves and fishes (Matt. xiv. 
13-32 ; Mark vi. 32-51 ; Luke ix. 10-17 ; John vi. 1- 
15). A careful comparison of the four forms of this 
narrative will bring out the distinctive touches of each of 
the Evangelists. In that given by John it will be ob- 
served in particular, that certain explanatory clauses are 
introduced for the benefit of the non-Jewish readers. He 
tells us that Jesus " went over the sea of Galilee, which 
is the sea of Tiberias" (vi. 1) ; that he "went up into a 
mountain" (3) ; that '-'"the Passover, a feast of the Jews, 
was nigh " (4) ; that " there teas much grass in the place " 
(10), etc. Here and there by the way his pen touches 
the spiritual and divine in Jesus and his mission. He 
alone tells us of the solemn lifting up of the eyes of the 
great Teacher (5) ; that even when Jesus asked Philip 
about buying bread for the multitude, he was omniscient 
and did not need an answer : " And this he said to prove 
him ; for he himself Jcnew what he would do" (6) ; that 
"those men, ivhen they had seen the miracle that Jesus 
did, said, TJiis is of a truth that prophet that should come 
into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived that they 



328 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he 
departed again into a mountain himself alone" (14, 15), 
etc. 

But most characteristic of all is the fact, already ad- 
verted to, that John, instead of pausing with the account 
of the storm on the lake, as the rest of the Evangelists 
do, proceeds to give — in double the space he devotes to 
the event — that practical and spiritual application of 
the miracle (vi. 25—59), so much more important than 
the mere event, the sum of which is found in the words 
of Jesus : " I am the bread of life. Whoso eateth my 
flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life." 

It has also been observed that the fourth Evangelist 
has his own way of avoiding the parables and similitudes 
in narrative form, which abound in the other Gospels; 
while by means of the more vivid metaphor he brings 
out with the greatest clearness the spiritual truths in- 
volved. In the other Gospels he compares himself to a 
shepherd who seeks after and brings back the stray sheep 
(Matt, xviii. 12, 13 ; Luke xv. 3-7) ; in John he says, i" 
am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life 
for the sheep (xii.). In the other Gospels he compares 
the kingdom of heaven to a vineyard and to a marriage 
feast (Matt, xxi. 28-44 ; Mark xii. 1-11 ; Luke xx. 9- 
18) ; but in John Jesus is himself the vine and his Fa- 
ther the husbandman (xv. 1) ; he is himself the bride- 
groom (hi. 29). 

These Christian features may be traced throughout all 
those portions of the fourth Gospel that have anything 
in common with the productions of the other Evangelists. 

Slighter Additions. There are also to be found in 
John's Gospel, in single sentences and minute touches, 
the most remarkable elucidations and incidental confirma- 
tions of what is contained in the other three. 

This may be illustrated by the false testimony men- 



INCIDENTAL VAKIATIONS. 329 

tioned by Matthew (xxvi. 61) and Mark (xiv. 57, 58). 
John alone tells us that, in the first cleansing of the Tem- 
ple, after the opening of his ministry, when the Jews 
asked Jesus for a sign of his authority, he " answered and 
said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I 
will raise it up " (ii. 19). That saying, uttered prophet- 
ically by Jesus, the false witnesses had interpreted as re- 
ferring to the Temple at Jerusalem : " We heard him say, 
I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and 
within three days I will build another made without 
hands " (Mark xiv. 58). 

So John alone tells us that the real cause of the flock, 
ing together of the people and of their acclamations on 
the entry into Jerusalem — facts recorded by Matthew 
(xxi. 10, 11), Mark (xi. 8-10), and Luke (xix. 37) — 
was the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead : " The 
people therefore that ivas ivith him when he called Lazarus 
out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record. 
For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard 
that he had done this miracle " (xii. 17, 18). 

It may be remarked incidentally that the other Evan- 
gelists could not give this cause. They did not record 
this most notable of miracles, perhaps partly for the rea- 
son that, if they had done so, the Sanhedrim which had 
u consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death, 
because that by reason of him many of the Jews went 
away and believed on Jesus " (John xii. 10, 11), would 
have carried out their bloody purpose ; and partly for the 
reason that the teachings concerning the resurrection 
were not suited to their unspiritual readers. When John 
wrote, Jerusalem had been long since destroyed and the 
danger to the family of Lazarus was past ; while his Gos- 
pel would have been essentially incomplete without the 
sublime instruction given on that occasion. 

Only the fourth Evangelist tells us that, when Mary 



330 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

anointed Jesus, " the house was filled with the odor of 
the ointment " (xii. 3) ; that it was " one of his disciples, 
Judas Iscariot, Simon s son " that said, " Why was not 
this ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to 
the poor" (xii. 4). He alone makes it appear fully that 
it was avarice that moved the traitor's heart : n This he 
said, not that he cared for the poor ; but because he was 
a thief, and had the bag, and bare (that is, stole ouf) 
what was put therein" (xii. 6). Only he brings out the 
real tenderness of the anointing by Mary and reveals her 
faith, as surpassing that of the Twelve, by declaring that 
she had kept the precious ointment for this occasion : 
" Against the day of my burying hath she kept this " oint- 
ment (xii. 7). 

These are but specimens of the Christian touches by 
which the beloved disciple adds to the fullness and beauty 
and spiritual power of all the Gospel material which he 
has in common with the other Evangelists. 

Word Changes. But in a Gospel embracing so much 
that is different in matter and in spirit from the contents 
of the other Gospels, the greatest variations must evi- 
dently be found in the vocabulary as marking out the 
range of new ideas. This is in part manifest from the 
Johannean system of Christian doctrine already given ; 
but it may be made clearer by an examination of some of 
the characteristic words and expressions. John's is an 
eminently Christian vocabulary. 

Common Words, The comparative infrequency of those 
words of theology and experience which properly have 
special reference to the earlier contact of the soul with 
Christ may first be noted. Matthew uses the word sinner 
five times ; Mark, six times ; Luke, seventeen times ; 
John, four times. Matthew uses the words repent and 
repentance five and three times respectively ; Mark, 
twice each ; Luke, nine and five times ; John, not at all. 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 331 

Matthew uses righteous nineteen times ; Mark, twice ; 
Luke, eleven times ; John, three times. Matthew uses 
justify twice ; Luke, five times ; Mark and John do not 
use it. The fair inference from these and like examples 
is that John does not deal largely with the ideas expressed 
by these words, and that the ideas belong rather to that 
earlier stage of the Gospel represented by the other Evan- 
gelists. In other words John's is not the Gospel that 
deals with the fundamental conceptions of sin, repentance, 
etc., in their simpler forms. 

The frequent recurrence in John of the words which 
belong to the later or higher phases of Gospel experi- 
ence is still more marked. It is a fact that the whole 
cycle of words connected with the Christian life is used 
with remarkable frequency by John. 

Judged by its vocabulary John's is preeminently the 
Gospel of faith. It is a favorite idea with certain skep- 
tical writers, that the foundation of Paul's system is faith, 
while that of John's is love. " We hear, on high author- 
ity," says a writer already referred to, " that the influ- 
ence of St. Paul on Christian theology is destined hence- 
forth to decline, and that the Christianity of the future 
will be colored principally by the teaching of the Apostle 
of love." x The truth is that, in the facts of the New 
Testament, there is not the slightest foundation for such 
a distinction. Matthew uses the word believe eleven 
times ; Mark, fifteen times ; Luke, nine times ; John, in 
his Gospel alone, one hundred times, or almost as many 
times as all the other New Testament writers — Paul in- 
cluded — taken together. In fact, if such a distinction 
is to be made — which we deny, on the ground of the 
essential harmony of the two — John ought rather to be 
called the Apostle of faith and Paul the Apostle of love ; 

1 The Doctrinal System of St. John, p. 76. The authority referred to is 
Matthew Arnold, " St. Paul and Protestantism." 



332 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

for, while the word love (aya?^) occurs only seven times 
in John's Gospel and seventeen times in his first Epistle, 
it is found seventy-three times (often translated charity) 
in Paul's writings. It remains indisputable that John 
makes faith far more prominent than any other writer in 
the Bible, so that if this one word were blotted out of his 
Gospel, its harmony would be gone, and there would be 
left little more than an unintelligible jargon. 

It is nevertheless true that, as compared with the other 
Gospels, the fourth is the Gospel of spiritual love. This 
is another side of the many-sided truth, — its divine 
rather than its human aspect. Matthew uses the verb 
expressing reverential love five times ; Mark, once ; Luke, 
twice ; John, thirteen times. Matthew makes use of love, as 
expressing personal attachment, eight times ; Mark, five 
times ; Luke, thirteen times ; John, thirty-seven times. 
From this point of view everything may be said to be 
comprehended in love. The Father loves the Son (John 
v. 20). The Son loves his own ; he loves them to the 
end (xiii. 1). The Father, in like manner, loves them, 
and hath loved them (xvii. 23). Jesus loves them with a 
special personal love, each by name. He loved Lazarus, 
and Mary, and Martha, and the disciple who lay in his 
bosom at the paschal table (xi. 5 ; xiii. 23). Upon the 
one word love, in its two senses and its many relations, 
the restoration of Peter, at the Sea of Tiberias, turned 
(xxi. 15-17). It is in harmony with this feature that 
John's is the Gospel of the Fatherhood of God. The 
word Father, in its application to God, occurs in Matthew 
forty-four times ; in Mark, five times ; in Luke, twenty 
times ; in John, one hundred and twenty-one times. In 
no other Gospel, therefore, when God is spoken of, does 
the name of Father, the Father, my Father, recur so often, 
in its special and exclusive relation to Jesus. It is a 
direct consequence of this relation of God as a Father, 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 333 

that John's is the Gospel of the giving grace of God. 
"As all things in this Gospel are viewed and represented 
in their highest causes, in their deepest foundations ; in 
like manner do we find in it the word and the idea of 
God's gift and giving, occurring with the same frequency. 
The first cause in all things is the gift of Gcod. What 
the Father hath given to the Son, what anew the Son 
gives or hath given to men, to those who believe in him, 
is again and again pressed on the attention." 

So John's is in an important sense the Gospel for all the 
world. It has been shown that Luke's is the Gospel for 
the Greek, the representative of universal humanity in 
its unrenewed condition. So it appears that John's is in 
a peculiar sense the Gospel for renewed humanity. 
Matthew uses the word world nine times ; Mark, three 
times ; Luke, three times ; John, seventy-nine times. 
John sometimes employs the word to express mankind 
collectively as distinguished from or opposed to God their 
Creator, as in the words to Nicodemus, " God so loved 
the world " (John iii. 16) ; sometimes the majority of the 
race as opposed to Israel or to believers, as in the Samari- 
tan's exclamation, " We know that this is indeed the 
Christ, the Saviour of the world " (John iv. 42) ; some- 
times an indefinite multitude or extension, as in the ex- 
clamation of the Pharisees, u Behold the world is gone 
after him " (John xii. 19). The use of the word in the 
first two senses is so frequent as to demonstrate the uni- 
versal reach and application of the last Gospel. 

In like manner the fourth Gospel, judged by its vocab- 
ulary is the Gospel of spiritual truth, light, and life. 
Matthew uses truth once ; Mark, three times ; Luke, 
three times ; John, twenty-five times. The first three 
Evangelists use the word true only once, while John uses 
it twenty-one times. Men are freed from spiritual bond- 
age and sanctified through the truth. Christ before 



334 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH.' 

Pilate declared himself to be a King, establishing a king- 
dom not of this world, — a kingdom of truth (xiv. 6). 
Matthew uses the word light seven times ; Mark, once ; 
Luke, six times ; John, twenty-two times. Matthew uses 
life seven times ; Mark, four times ; Luke, six times ; 
John, thirty-six times. Matthew uses everlasting life 
three times ; Mark, twice ; Luke, three times ; John, 
seventeen times. It has often been remarked that with 
John these expressions bear a peculiarly mystical and 
spiritual character. He links the life and the light with 
each other and identifies Christ with the truth, the light, 
and the life. 

Peculiar Words. The spiritual truth and Christian 
aim of the fourth Gospel appear with equal clearness in 
words and expressions altogether peculiar to itself. The 
Evangelist uses to some extent a vocabulary of his own 
in speaking of Christ and his work. 

In the opening sentence of the Gospel, Christ is thrice 
designated as the Word (Logos). No one has shown this 
Word to us, in his incarnation, in such a multiplicity 
of aspects as John, — in contact and controversy with 
men, arguing with sinful men, and enduring their re- 
proaches and scoffs ; called a Samaritan and one that 
hath a devil ; the hand of man incessantly lifted up 
against him to seize him, to stone him, to crucify him. 

John alone calls Jesus the Lamb of God. He alone 
represents Jesus himself as declaring, that " as Moses 
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the 
Son of man be lifted up ;" and that " I, if I be lifted up, 
will draw all men unto me." 

No other Evangelist uses the expression, Verily, verily, 
even once, but John uses it twenty-five times. As the 
others make use of the single verily only, it has been sug- 
gested that the second word is John's own, " the response 
of his faith to the faithfulness of his Lord, like the in- 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 335 

stantaneous echo by the rocks of a peal of thunder." 
The careful observer, however, will note the fact that the 
double word is uniformly connected with sayings pecul- 
iar to John, in short, with his expression of the great 
life-and-death truths of Christianity. The double verily 
is therefore better explained as being, what it purports to 
be, an expression from the lips of Jesus himself, and in- 
tended to emphasize those great spiritual truths which do 
not appear in the same form in the other Gospels. If 
any one will write out the passages from John that are 
prefaced by it, he will see that they sum up all the glo- 
rious and solemn verities of the Gospel in its relation to 
life here and hereafter, so that, if John's Gospel is the 
heart of Christ, the double verilies are the heart of the 
heart of Christ. 

II. Other Peculiarities, 

In addition to these indications of the Christian aim 
of John's Gospel, drawn from its conceptions and doc- 
trines, there are still others of a different character which 
at the same time mark its late origin and fit it for the 
Christian Church. 

First of these may be noticed the manner in which 
the Gospel deals with the Jewish Scriptures. 

Unlike the Gospels according to Mark and Luke, that 
according to John constantly refers to the Old Testament 
Scriptures. In this respect it is like that according to 
Matthew. It is therefore certain that John wrote for 
those who were familiarly acquainted with the Scriptures. 
This was true of the Christian Church throughout the 
world at the close of the first century, while it certainly 
was not true of the Romans and Greeks at the time when 
Mark and Luke wrote for them. 

That John did not write for Jews alone is proved by 
the fact that he is careful to describe places in Judaea 



336 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

(iv. 5 ; v. 2 ; xviii. 1) ; to explain the manners and cus- 
toms familiar to all Jews (ii. 6, 13 ; iv. 9 ; v. 1 ; vi. 9 ; 
x. 22 ; xi. 33, 44, 55 ; xix. 31, 39-42) ; and to interpret 
Hebrew words (i. 38, 42; ix. 7 ; xix. 13, 17 ; xx. 16). 
He must therefore have written for persons unacquainted 
with the country, customs, and language of Palestine. 

That he did not write merely for those who understood 
the Greek language only, or best, appears from the fact 
that, while the other Evangelists appeal for the most part 
to the Septuagint or Greek version of the Old Testa- 
ment, John appeals sometimes to it (i. 23 ; ii. 17 ; vi. 45 ; 
x. 34 ; xii. 14, 15 ; xv. 35 ; xix. 24, 36) ; but sometimes 
turns to the Hebrew original, as if to the final standard 
of appeal (xii. 40 ; viii. 18 ; xix. 37). He writes not 
only for those who are acquainted with the Septuagint, 
but for all the world of Christians. 

It is likewise in conformity with this view and confirm- 
atory of it, that John so often refers his readers to the 
prophecies of the Scriptures. It has already been seen 
that he makes a score or more of such references ; that 
these usually take for granted that the persons addressed 
are acquainted with the Scriptures ; and that, while in 
the first half of his Gospel the references are chiefly con- 
fined to fact and law, in the second half they are confined 
to the prophecies fulfilled in Christ's unfolding of the 
Christian life and familiar to all Christians. Da Costa 
has well remarked that these passages are " for the 
greater part entirely new, and, so to speak, fresh in St. 
John, never having been cited anywhere before in the 
New Testament. The form or manner of the quotation, 
too, is somehow differently modified, and has a depth 
and subtlety not to be found in the other Gospels ; as 
when, at the purification of the Temple, after recording 
the words of our Lord : 4 Take these things hence ; make 
not my Father's house an house of merchandise ' (ii. 16) ; 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 387 

we find this followed by the quotation of one of the pro- 
phetical sayings in the book of Psalms : 4 And his dis- 
ciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine 
house hath eaten me up^ (Ps. v. 17)." This peculiarity in 
the manner of quotation is also illustrated in the discourse 
with the Jews in the synagogue at Capernaum (vi. 44, 
45) ; in the call on the last day of the feast of Taberna- 
cles (vii. 37, 38) ; in Christ's reproof of the Jews for their 
unbelief and hardness of heart (xii. 36-41) ; when the 
traitor is pointed out at the supper (xiii. 18) ; in what 
fell from Christ's lips at the paschal feast (xv. 25) ; 
among the last words on the cross (xix. 28) ; and when 
the legs of the malefactors were broken (xix. 36). It 
will readily be seen that these passages also illustrate 
with equal force the eminently spiritual view which 
John takes of the various facts in the life of Christ to 
which they refer. Of such references to prophecy it may 
be said that none of them are made, as are those in 
Matthew, for the purpose of demonstrating for the Jew 
the Messiahship of Jesus, but rather all of them for the 
purpose of bringing out the profound spiritual truths in- 
volved and of supreme interest to the soul of the be- 
liever. 

The student of the Gospels will readily observe for him- 
self the same features in John's references to what was 
prophetical in our Lord's own words, as when he compares 
his approaching crucifixion and resurrection to a destroy- 
ing and building up again of the temple of God (ii. 22), 
and in the record of Pilate's sentence (xviii. 31, 32) ; 
and again in the record of the unconscious prophecies of 
enemies, as when Caiaphas urges the Sanhedrim to take 
measures against Jesus (xi. 49-51), and when Pilate 
places the title, in the three representative languages, 
over the cross (xix. 19-22). 

A second of these peculiar indications of John's later 

22 



338 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

date and Christian aim is found in the manner in which 
he deals with the Jewish people. 

Matthew uses the appellation Jews, five times ; Mark, 
seven times ; Luke, five times ; John, seventy-one times. 
This furnishes evidence that the fourth Gospel was written 
subsequently to the others, at a period when the Christian 
body, whether Hebrew or Gentile, had crystallized into 
the Church, and detached themselves entirely from the 
apostate and hostile Jews, whom they regarded as a sepa- 
rate body, and who were then known over the world as 
Jews. " Throughout this Gospel," as Wordsworth has 
said, " the Jews, represented by their leaders, the priests 
and Pharisees, are contemplated ab extra, and are spoken 
of in the third person as a separate body, such as they 
Jiad become after the fall of Jerusalem, when those who 
adhered to Judaism were distinguished by bitter hostility 
to the Church." 1 

Moreover, the intimate connection of Judaism and 
Christianity rendered it necessary that the Evangelist for 
the Christian Church should explain the great and every- 
where patent fact of the apostasy of the Jewish race, 
which fact might else have furnished a powerful d priori 
argument against Christianity itself. Hence it is that 
in the fourth Gospel the conflict of light and life 
with darkness and death takes shape in the conflict of 
Jesus with the carnally minded Jews. The central and 
closing portions of the Gospel are filled with the record 
of the strife. The effort to bring Jesus to a judicial trial 
is followed by attempts to mob and stone him, and these 
again by the plottings of the great Jewish Council which 
result in his apprehension and crucifixion. John's sketch 
of the conflict between the blind, hypocritical, and malig- 
nant Jewish formalists, and the sincere, spiritual, and 
divine Christ, was needed to strip the apostate Jews of 
1 Wordsworth, St. John's Gospel, Introduction. 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 339 

the power they would otherwise have possessed, and 
which they would most certainly have exercised, to cor- 
rupt and destroy the Church of Christ. 

Still another, and third, of these peculiar indications 
of John's Christian aim is found in the complete unfold- 
ing of the Jewish practical religion exhibited in this 
Gospel. 

The old religion was the precursor of the new, and 
contained its germ. The proper development of the old 
was intended to lead to the new. In other words, the 
Jewish religion was the world-religion in its typical 
and undeveloped form, while the Christian religion was 
the same world-religion in its spiritual and developed 
form. " The law was given by Moses, but grace and 
truth came by Jesus Christ." As the old Jewish relig- 
ious life reached its perfection in connection with the re- 
ligious institutions and festivals, it was both natural and 
necessary that the new Christian life should first be de- 
veloped in connection with these. 

Da Costa has brought out the marked prominence of 
the religious festivals in the fourth Gospel, with great 
clearness. " While the other three Gospels speak of but 
one of these, the Passover, and principally, if not solely, 
of that Passover at which Jesus was crucified ; our fourth 
Gospel mentions many such festive occasions, and several 
different paschal feasts." 1 

Vastly more significant and important, however, is the 
fact that John makes these religious festivals the central 
points in the presentation of the truths of the Gospel for 
the Christian soul. The entire unfolding of spiritual 
truth by Christ is thus connected with the central places 
and movements of the Jewish religious life, which held 

1 For the Passovers mentioned, see John ii. 23 ; y. 1 ; vi. 4 ; xii. 1. 
John also mentions the feast of Tabernacles (vii. 2), and the feast of 
the Dedication (x. 22). 



340 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

embodied the highest truth of the old dispensation. 
He is the Lamb of God, himself the sacrifice, the ful- 
fillment of all the sacrifices, the Passover. His lifting up 
is therefore naturally and necessarily identified with the 
Jewish Passover. The Jewish and Christian stages of 
the world-religion were thus shown to be but parts of 
the one plan of God, so that the latter could only appear 
among men as it was unfolded from the former. 

A fourth, last, and most conclusive of these indications 
of the Christian aim of John is to be found in the prom- 
inence which his Gospel gives to the relations of Christ, 
through his sacrifice, to the Christian life. 

Jesus is the Lamb of God, the sin bearer of the world 
(i. 29, 36), who gives his own flesh and blood for the life 
of the world. Matthew and Mark speak once each of 
the time of Christ's sacrifice as the hour : " Behold the 
hour is at hand and the son of man is betrayed into the 
hands of sinners " (Matt. xxvi. 45) ; " It is enough, the 
hour is come " (Mark xiv. 41). But in John's Gospel the 
hour of the cross is regarded as the central hour in the 
whole ministry of Christ, to which everything moves 
forward and in which everything centres. This is seen 
in his declining on various occasions to make a public 
manifestation of his Messiahship, because his hour is not 
yet come (John ii. 4 ; vii. 30 ; viii. 20). It is the cen- 
tral hour of the world's history. At the last Passover 
his hour is heralded by the coming of certain Greeks, as 
representatives of the world, who desire to see him (xii. 
23). It is the central hour in God's plan of all things, 
and on this ground Jesus, in the opening of the interces- 
sory prayer, bases his plea for his glorification (xvii. 1). 

In the I ams which fell from the lips of Jesus himself, 
as given by John, is summed up the fullest possible ex- 
hibition of his person and work, and of that perfect 
satisfaction for the spiritual wants of all men which is to 
be found only in him. 



INCIDENTAL VARIATIONS. 341 

To the woman of Samaria he said, " /that speak unto 
thee am " the Messiah (iv. 26) ; to the disciples in the 
storm on the sea, "it is I (literally I am) ; be not 
afraid" (vi. 20). To the Jews he declares, " I am the 
bread of life " (vi. 86, 48) ; "lam the bread which came 
down from heaven " (vi. 41, 51). In presenting his re- 
lation to the Father, he says, " i" am from him and he 
hath sent me." "I am the light of the world" (viii. 
12; ix. 5). "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before 
Abraham was, I am " (viii. 58). 

Still more tenderly does he present himself to his own. 
" I am the door of the sheep" (x. 7, 9). "I am the 
good shepherd : the good shepherd giveth his life for the 
sheep " (x. 11, 14). " I am the resurrection and the life " 
(xi. 25, 26). "Ye call me Master and Lord; and ye 
say well ; for I am " (xiii. 13). " I am the way, and the 
truth, and the life" (xiv. 6). "lam the true vine, and 
my Father is the husbandman" (xv. 1). " I am the 
vine, ye are the branches" (xv. 5). "Jesus saith unto 
them, I am he. And Judas also which betrayed him, 
stood with them. As soon, then, as he had said unto 
them, _Z" am he, they went backward, and fell to the 
ground " (xviii. 5, 6). " Thou sayest that I am a King " 
(xviii. 37). 

So completely does Jesus, according to John's Gospel, 
present himself as the centre of all things, — of self-ex- 
istence, of eternity, of immutability, of omnipotence, of 
all the resources that are found in God ; the source of all 
things, — of light, of life, of comfort, of strength, of 
blessedness, of immortality, of all the treasures that the 
Christian soul can desire. 

SUMMARY. 

, In the light of the survey which has been taken of 
John's Gospel, its Christian aim and adaptation cannot 
reasonably be doubted. 



342 JOHN, THE GOSPEL FOR THE CHURCH. 

It lias been shown to be a historical fact that John, the 
beloved disciple, a man eminently fitted for the work both 
by his character and experience, wrote this Gospel at the 
end of the first century for the Christian Church, a spir- 
itual organization made up of men saved out of all the 
great races of the apostolic age through the instrumen- 
tality of the earlier preaching of the Gospel and by faith 
in Christ. This is the firm historical basis for the true 
theory of the fourth Gospel. 

It has also been shown that the Gospel itself bears 
throughout the evidence of its Christian origin and aim. 
Its plan is but the unfolding of the central idea of the 
Incarnate Word as the light and life of the world. Its 
omissions and additions of material were made to suit it 
to the Christian soul and its needs. All its incidental 
changes, its doctrinal system, and its special peculiarities, 
unite in demonstrating its Christian adaptation. In 
short, the Christian idea shapes and moulds everything 
in it from the organic idea down through the rhetorical 
forms to the very vocabulary itself. 

It may therefore be justly claimed, that the historical 
and critical views combine to establish the theory that 
John was originally the Gospel for the Christian, and to 
make it plain that this theory furnishes the true key to 
the Gospel. 



CONCLUSION. 

THE GOSPEL FOE ALL THE WORLD. 

The answer proposed to the question, Why four Gos- 
pels ? is patent from the preceding studies of the Evan- 
gelists. It entered into the purpose of God from the 
beginning, to give the divine religion of the Christian 
revelation to all mankind. The great commission sent 
the Apostles to preach the Gospel to every creature. In 
its fulfillment it required just so many and just such 
Gospels to meet the wants of the world of the apostolic 
age in commending Jesus to all men as the Saviour frorn 
sin. It is hoped that the view presented may commend 
itself to the Christian reason, as not only simple and 
satisfactory, not only based upon the sound principles of 
philosophy and the undoubted facts of history ; but as 
also, and more than all, helpful to the better understand- 
ing of these precious portions of the Scriptures and of 
the incarnate Word revealed therein, and to a quickened 
progress in that divine life of faith which ever contem- 
plates as a chief aim the conquest of the world for the 
crucified and risen Christ. 

In conclusion, it may be profitable to direct the atten- 
tion to the two main facts of the Gospels, — the first, the 
element common to all the four, and the second, the ele- 
ment peculiar to each, — as suited and doubtless intended 
to give the productions of the Evangelists a perpetual 
freshness and fitness for the race of man. 



344 CONCLUSION. 

I. The Gospel for Man. 

There is a central mass of fact and truth around which 
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John alike group their other 
material. This is the essential, fundamental element 
which must make the productions of the Evangelists 
Gospels, good news, to man the sinner wherever and 
whenever they come to his hearing. These chief facts 
and truths may be summed up in four particulars. 

The first is found in the incarnation of the Son of 
God. The four Evangelists set it forth in such a way as 
to make it patent to every candid reader. With Matthew, 
Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, in fulfillment of proph- 
ecy ; with Mark, he is the Son of God in human form 
exercising his almighty power ; with Luke, he is the de- 
scendant of Adam and the child of the virgin, yet the 
Son of the Highest ; with John, he is the eternal Word 
made flesh. 

The second is found in the life of the Son of God on 
earth in human form and subject to human conditions 
and laws. This makes up the central portion of each of 
the Gospels. With Matthew, it is the life of Messiah ; 
with Mark, of the almighty worker and victor ; with 
Luke, of the divine and universal man ; with John, of 
the incarnate Word. 

The third of these common particulars is found in the 
death upon the cross. As this is the all-essential fact, 
all the Gospels devote large space to it, delineating also 
the events centring in it. In short, here is the ground 
which all the Evangelists traverse most fully and care- 
fully. They all give the triumphal entry into the Holy 
City, which was the public claim of Jesus to be the Mes- 
siah, the Saviour of the world; the Passover supper, 
which was his act of putting himself voluntarily in the 
place of the Paschal Lamb, as the one whose sacrifice 



THE GOSPEL FOR ALL THE WORLD. 345 

alone could deliver from the destruction of sin ; the ag- 
ony and betrayal in Gethsemane, which marked his vol- 
untary submission to drink the cup of his Father for the 
salvation of the lost ; the trial and condemnation, which 
were at once the public vindication of the innocence of 
the Redeemer, and his public rejection by the ancient 
Jewish and Gentile world ; the death by crucifixion, 
which was his actual sacrifice for the sins of the world ; 
and his burial, which signalized his subjection to death 
for a season. All these are the constituent parts of the 
great fact of the cross, or of Christ's sacrifice for the sins 
of mankind. 

The fourth and last of these common features is 
found in the rising of Jesus from the dead on the third 
day, in his subsequent intercourse with his disciples, in 
his giving to the Apostles their great commission to 
preach the Gospel to all the world, and in his ascension 
to heaven, at once establishing his claim to be the Sav- 
iour of mankind and organizing and beginning his sav- 
ing work. 

All these — the incarnation, the life, the death, the 
resurrection — are the essential facts and truths of the 
Gospel, those which at the first made it good news to 
men. Without any one of them all it would cease to be 
good news ; for, without the incarnation, the Son of 
God would have no part in our human nature ; without 
the life on earth, he could neither be our righteousness 
nor our example ; without the death he could not be our 
sacrifice for sin ; and without the resurrection and ascen- 
sion his claims would be proved baseless and the world 
would be left to perish without a Saviour. The Son of 
God became incarnate, lived, died, rose from the dead, for 
the redemption of the lost, — this cannot grow old but 
must be glad tidings for man, the sinner, till the end of 
time. 



346 CONCLUSION. 

II. The Gospel for all Men. 

There is an element of fact and truth peculiar to each 
of the Evangelists. It was by means of this, as has been 
seen, that the essential and fundamental Gospel truth 
was brought by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, favor- 
ably before the minds of the Jew, Roman, Greek, and 
Christian, and Jesus of Nazareth commended to them all 
as the Saviour of the World. It is this fourfold differ- 
ence that completes the rounded, perfect fitness of the 
four Gospels to constitute the perpetual Evangel for the 
world of the ages subsequent to the apostolic. 

Not only is it ever true that man is a sinner and needs 
the good news of Christ's incarnation, life, death, and 
resurrection ; but it remains equally true that the world 
of mankind is always divided into the same great classes 
and always exhibits the same generic phases of thought. 
In all ages the Jewish, Roman, and Greek natures re- 
appear among men, and, in fact, make up the world of 
natural men ; while the Christian nature and wants like- 
wise remain essentially identical. From age to age the 
four Gospels appeal to the classes who, in temperament, 
mental constitution, training, and modes of thought, are 
like those for whom of old, in obedience to the inspiring 
breath of God, they were prepared. Thus it is that 
these brief but all-important productions have had power 
to captivate men by a perpetual fitness and a perennial 
freshness. 

For the man with nature inclined to bow to a uthority, 
to appreciate divine religious forms, to exalt the peculiar 
position of the people of God, and to trace the marvelous 
plan of God in the preparation for the Messiah and in 
the progress of his kingdom, the Gospel which Matthew 
wrote for the Jew must possess a permanent and absorb- 
ing interest. 



THE GOSPEL FOR ALL THE WORLD. 347 

For the man of jp ogex, reverencing law, given to ac- 
tion, fitted to be an actor or leader in pushing forward 
the conquest of the world for Christ, the Gospel which 
Mark wrote for the Roman must retain its old signifi- 
cance and an ever-potent inspiration as the battle-call of 
the Almighty Conqueror. 

For the m an of r ea son and taste, of philosophic and 
aesthetic culture, the man longing for the perfect man- 
hood, cherishing a world-wide sympathy with mankind, 
delighting to contemplate the universal reach of the grace 
of God the Father to sinners, the Gospel which Luke 
wrote for the Greek must maintain an increasing reason- 
ableness and an undying influence as the voicing of the 
infinite Reason of the one Divine Man. 

For the man of fait ]i_saYedL by the incarnation and 
atonement of the Son of God, the man of the new and 
divine life of obedience and devotion to Christ, the man 
enlightened, guided, and helped by the Holy Ghost, the 
Gospel which John wrote for the Christian Church can- 
not fail to retain an immortal fascination and to furnish 
a supreme satisfaction as the utterance of God's eternal 
Word to the believing soul. 

It is on this wise that the one Gospel of God in four- 
fold form, which was exactly fitted to commend Jesus of 
Nazareth to the ancient world, and which could not then 
have been put in other shape without a radical change in 
the races and history of the apostolic age, is still so per- 
fectly adapted to meet the wants of the modern world, 
that it would require a revolution in the mental structure 
and experience of man, before any other number of Gos- 
pels or any different ones from the four in the New Tes- 
tament could meet the necessities of ruined and redeemed 
humanity. God appears, therefore, in his Word no less 
than in his world, as a God of order. The same perfect, 
divine plan which science is finding in the latter, a ra- 



348 CONCLUSION. 

tional and reverential study finds in the former. The 
Gospels are the perfect thought of God for the restora- 
tion of a lost world. 

The four Gospels, therefore, in their essential unity 
and harmony and in their fourfold difference and con- 
trast, illustrate at once and equally well the wonders of 
the divine love and the comprehensiveness of the di- 
vine plan, — a love reaching out after and laying hold 
of all the great classes of sinners to be found in the 
race ; a plan comprehending and providing for the spir- 
itual wants of all men to the end of time. In contem- 
plating, in the writings of the Evangelists, this sublime 
plan of the Heavenly Father, who " so loved the world 
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever be- 
lieveth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life," the devout soul must ever bow with a humble, 
grateful adoration, growing with increasing knowledge, 
and exclaim, — 

To God alone be all the glory. 




A NEW TEXT-BOOK ON MORAL SCIENCE. 



PHRISTIAN ETHICS; a*™. t rue 

^ Moral Manhood and Life of Duty. A 
Text-book for Schools and Colleges. By 
D. S. Gregory, D.D., Professor of the 
Mental Sciences and English Literature 
in the University of Wooster, Ohio. 




CONTENTS OF THE WOKE. 

Introduction — Nature of the Science. 
Part I. 

THEORETICAL ETHICS.— THEORY OF THE LIFE OF DUTY. 

Division I— The Nature of the Moral Agent, 

Chapter I— General Vievt of the Personal Agent. 
Section 1. The Active Being. 
Section 2. The Springs of Action. 
Section 3. The Arbiter and Executor of Action. 
Section 4. The Guides of Action. 

Chapter II — Special View of the Moral Agent. 

Section 1. Elements of the Moral Nature from Theories of the Moralists. 
Section 2. Elements of the Moral Nature from Consciousness. 

Division II— The Nature of Virtue, or the Dutiful in Conduct. 

Chapter I — The Supreme End of Virtuous Action. 

Section 1. Theories of the Supreme End. 
Section 2. The True Theory Established. 

Chapter II — The Supreme Rule of Rightness. 

Section 1. Unsatisfactory Theories of the Supreme Rule. 
Section 2. The True Theory of the Supreme Rule. 

Chapter III — The Ultimate Ground of Rightness, a Moral 
Obligation. 

Section 1. Incorrect Theories of the Ground of Moral Obligation. 
Section 2. Correct Theory of the Ground of Moral Obligation. 

Division III— The Philosophy of the Life of Duty. 
Chapter I— The True Conception of Human Duty. 

Section 1. The True Idea of a Virtuous Action. 
Section 2. The True Idea of the Life of Duty. 

Chapter II — The Natural Requisites for the Life of Duty. 

Section 1. The Broad Intelligence and the Moral Task. 
Section 2. The Cultivated Conscience and the Moral Task. 
Section 3. The Free and Holy Will and the Moral Task. 

Chapter III — The Requisite Moral Reconstruction. 

Section 1. The Moral Disorder of Man's Nature. 
Section 2. The True Scheme of Moral Reconstruction. 



Part II. 

PRACTICAL ETHICS.— DUTIES IN THE LIFE OF DUTY. 

Division I— Individual Ethics— Duties Toward Self. 

Chapter I — Duty of Self-Conservation. 

Section 1. Self-Preservation— Life. 
Section 2. Sidf-Care— Health. 
Section 3. Self-Support— Well-Being. 

Chapter II — Duty of Self-Culture. 

Section 1. Physical Self-Culture. 
Section 2. Spiritual Self-Culture. 

Chapter III — Duty of Self-Conduct. 

Section 1. Self-Control. 
Section 2. Self-Direction. 

Division II— Social Ethics— Duties Toward Mankind. 
Chapter I — General Ethics. Duties Toward Men in General. 

Section 1. Duty of Social Conservation. 
Section 2. Duty of Social Improvement. 
Section 3. Duty of Social Direction. 

Chapter II — Economical Ethics. Duties in the Household. 

Section 1. Duties of the Marriage Relation. 
Section 2. Duties of the Parental Relation. 
Section 3. Duties of Master and Servant. 

Chapter III— Civil Ethics. Duties in the State. 

Section 1. Duties of the State. 
Section 2. Duties of the Citizen. 

Division III— Theistic Ethics— Duties Toward God. 

Chapter I — Supreme Devotion of the Intellect to God. 

Section 1. The Binding Force of the Duty. 
Section 2. The Range of the Duty. 

Chapter II — Supreme Devotion of the Heart to God. 

Section 1. The Binding Force of the Duty. 
Section 2. The Range of the Duty. 

Chapter III — Supreme Devotion of the Will to God. 

Section 1. Obedience Toward God. 

Section 2. Worship of God. 

Section 3. Acceptance of Moral Reconstruction. 



FEATURES OF THE WOEK. 



The work of Dr. Gregory possesses among others the fol- 
lowing peculiar features: 

1. It is the most complete and comprehensive treatise on 
this subject that has been brought before the public, con- 
taining almost twice the matter of any other work similar 
in aim and form. 

2. A new, logical and systematic form has been given to 
the whole subject, which makes the science at once easy to 
master and to retain. 

3. It is so constructed as to meet the wants of three classes 
of pupils. Practical Ethics furnishes a complete text-book for 
the younger and more immature, as in the Public Schools; 
the book may be studied entire by ordinary Seminary or 
College classes; or the matter in larger type may be made 
the basis of a system of lectures for those who desire a Syl- 
labus for guiding the investigations of mature minds. 

4. By means of graded type, the relative importance and 
dependence of the different parts, propositions and discussions, 
are made to appear at once to the eye of the teacher and of 
the pupil of average intelligence. 

5. The entire treatment is fresh and abreast with the age, 
dealing with the great ethical questions in living rather than 
dead form and thereby arousing the natural enthusiasm of 
the youthful mind. 

6. The work aims throughout to present the science of right 
and noble living from the point of view of the enlightened 
Christian conscience, so as to keep before the pupil the highest 
attainable human character and life, and the most powerful 
motives for attaining them. 



The attention of educators is particularly invited to the 
following points, usually either overlooked or hastily treated : 

The. elements of personal agency. 

The thorough analysis of the moral nature. 

The full discussion of the nature of virtue. 

The scientific presentation in the philosophy of duty. 

The full treatment of the great questions of the will. 

The discussion of the problem of moral reconstruction, and 
the testing of the various schemes proposed. 

The new analysis of Practical Ethics. 

The principles governing the choice of work in life. 

The theory of education and its application, under self- 
culture. 

The treatment, under Self-Conduct, of the great End of 
Life, of the considerations which should influence in the for- 
mation of the plan for life, and of the principles which should 
govern in the use of the personal powers, the forces of nature, 
wealth, and time, in carrying out that plan and accomplishing 
the grandest possible life-work. 

The enlarged and unselfish view of duties to mankind. 

The fresh discussion of such topics as the duties of the 
• State to the world and to God; of prayer; of the Sabbath, etc. 




WHAT LEADING EDUCATOKS SAY OF THE WOEK. 



President M. B. Anderson, D.D., LL. D., Rochester University, N. Y. 

"The book throughout shows the action of a clear, vigorous, and well- 
disciplined mind, strongly imbued with the loftiest conceptions of Chris- 
tian morality. It is admirably fitted for a text-book and is exhaustive 
in the range of the topics treated." 



President James McCosh, D.D., LL. D., Princeton College, N. J. 

"Dr. Gregory's work is one of the very best of the few good books 
that we have on Christian Ethics. It is at once philosophic and practical 
expounding grand principles and applying them to particular precepts.' 



President Noah Porter, D.D., LL. D., Yale College, New Haven, Conn. 

" A valuable addition to the manuals of instruction which we have. 
It certainly does great credit to the scholarship and ability of the author." 



Professor L. H. Atwater, D.D., LL. D., Professor of Logic, Metaphysics and Political 
Economy, in the College of New Jersey, Princeton. (From The Presbyterian Quarterly 
and Princeton Review.) 

"A work of this kind is to be estimated according to two principal 
standards : first, as a manual for teaching the science of which it treats, 
and, next, as an exposition of or contribution to that science itself. . . . 
Professor Gregory's book very strongly exemplifies both sorts of excel- 
lencies. While it takes note of the views of others, and incorporates the 
marrow of them, it combines with all this a vein of original thinking, 
which brings the whole out as it has been fused and recast in the alembic 
of his own mind. It is no mere combination or rehash. It is a con- 
struction of his own, which, illuminating with whatever light it can bor- 
row from the great masters, gives many cross and side lights of its own 
which are new. While it has value so far as an original work, it has 
still greater value in its plan and method as a text-book." 



President Milton Valentine, D.D., Pennsylvania College, {Lutheran Quarterly Review.) 

11 It is a work of very great merit, and will doubtless soon take, as it 
deserves, a prominent place among the manuals of instruction in academic 
and collegiate institutions. . . . The work on the whole is so sound and 
Christian, as well as so clear and well arranged, that we regard it the 
very best manual now offered for instruction in Moral Science." 



Dr. H. L. "Wayland, Editor of the National Baptist (late President of Kalamazoo College, 
and son of Dr. Francis Wayland). 

" The book is based upon a very rigid, logical, and comprehensive out- 
line. . . . The author takes the highest possible ideal of life and duty, 
and he discusses his theme with an enthusiasm and directness which are 
sure to make an impression. 

" The book evinces great breadth of scholarship, and a familiarity with 
all the recent literature upon the subject; and very frequently in evolv- 
ing his own view, he will place side by side the views of those who differ 
from him, and in this way he condenses into a paragraph the contents of 
many volumes; and his criticisms bring the subject down to the present 
year of grace. 

" But the cultus of the book does not surpass its outspokenness. The 
author sees sin where sin is and does not tamper with it. The warm, 
earnest, practical, dignified spirit of the volume is in perfect accord with 
its scientific character. 

" The spirit of the book corresponds to Dr. Lyman Beecher's definition 
of eloquence, viz.: ' Logic set on fire.' Dr. Gregory has set his logic on 
fire with his pen. We doubt if his voice could better it." 



Col. Robert D. Allen, Superintendent Kentncky Military Institute, and Member of 
State Board of Education. 

"I am persuaded that Gregory's Christian Ethics is the only work on 
the subject, published in America, that is adapted to the class-room. 
Every man that values knowledge on this subject should study this 
splendid work with care." 



Professor J. P. Lacroix, D. D., Ohio, Wesleyan University, translator of Wuttke's 

Christian Ethics. 

"This book presents the new ethics. It bears the science from God. 
It gives a clear, positive, Christian solution to the great problems of 
human life. 



President Thomas Ward White, D.D., Greenboro Female College, Alabama. 

" I do not hesitate to pronounce it superior to any production of the 
kind which has come under my observation for years. It is more in 
accordance with Scripture than Paley, more lucid than Alexander, much 
more simple than Wayland, freer from professional technicalities than 
Abercrombie; in short, a, post helium production eminently suited for the 
progressive development of physical and moral womanhood in the South. 

" We shall adopt it, at once, in our classes, and would cordially com- 
mend it to those engaged in female education." 



President Thomas Chase, Haverford College, Pennsylvania. 

" I am impressed with the great excellence of the work. It is philo- 
sophical in its arrangement, sound in its teachings, and happy in its 
practical applications of the great truths with which it deals." 



President C. Nutt, D.D., Indiana State University. 

"Such a book has been long needed. It is thorough and up with the 
times. I shall adopt it as a text-book in this University." 



Professor R. Bethune Welch, LL. D., Union University, N. Y. 

" It seems to me admirably adapted to its special purpose as a text- 
book ; and, in this respect, cannot fail to meet an urgent need in the de- 
partment of ethical instruction." 



President Kendall Brooks, D.D., Kalamazoo College, Michigan. 

" It is no discredit to Francis Wayland to say, that forty years after 
the publication of his Moral Science, which has rendered admirable 
service for so many years, another is issued better in some respects than 
his. Dr. Gregory's book seems peculiarly adapted to the class-room." 



President N. R. Middleton, College of Charleston, S. C. 

" It is a very complete and large-minded analysis of a subject so often 
discussed in a narrow and sectarian spirit." 



10 

President Oval Pirkey, Abingdon College, 111. 

" It is the best text-book I have yet found on the subject of which it 
treats. Condensed, systematic, and plain." 



President B. Heling, D.D., Wittenberg College, Ohio. 

"The wide range of topics presented, upon what he so fitly terms 'the 
science of right and noble living,' makes the book a real treasury of 
truth and knowledge upon its special subject." 



President John R. Park, M.D., University of Deseret, Utah. 

"In general plan, in arrangement, and in all that makes a text-book 
effective in the class-room, I have yet seen nothing equal to it." 



President R L. Abernethy, Rutherford College, N. C. 

" I am so well pleased with it that I shall adopt it as one of my text- 
books in this college, next term. The book combines more of mental 
with the normal of man's nature than any other book I have examined. 
Its typography and manual execution cannot be easily surpassed." 



Professor J. W. Scott, D.D., L.L.D., West Virginia University. 

" It seems well adapted to the purpose intended. As a text-book, better 
than any of those in common use." 



President L. A. Dunn, Central University, Iowa. 
Decidedly the best of anything I have seen upon this subject.' 



Professor James Harper, D.D., United Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 
Newburg, N. Y. 

" I should be glad to know that the work had been adopted as a text- 
book in all our colleges, and outside of college walls. It is admirably 
adapted to promote a high moral tone; while it furnishes powerful evi- 
dence in behalf of that Christianity toward which, by thoughtful Sfc pa 
from first principles, it conducts the student." 



11 



Professor Wm. Alexander, D.D., Presbyterian Theological Seminary of the Pacific, Cal. 

11 The definitions are admirable, clear cut and distinct, and at the same 
time comprehensive and complete. Another notable feature is, that the 
author has ventured to depart from the beaten track without departing 
from the truth. I am delighted with the boldness and directness with 
which he pushes his principles to their just conclusion. " 



Professor C. S. Reinke, Moravian Theological Seminary, Bethlehem, Pa. 
I think it an admirable work." 



Professor T. S. Wynkooss, Theological Seminary, Allahabad, India. 

11 Tell Dr. Gregory that I take with me to India a package of his 
Christian Ethics, and shall select the best of my young men and put them 
through as thorough a course in it as possible." 



Principal Johx TV. Armstrong, State Normal School, Fredonia, N. Y. 

"The book is uncommonly rich in material. The general impression 
made by it is, variety and excellence in matter, thoroughness in investi- 
gation, and adaptation to the wants of the recitation room." 



Principal J. Estabrook, State Normal School, Ypsilanti, Michigan. 

" I am delighted with it. The arrangement of topics is admirable, and 
the discussion of them very able." 



President C. R. Pomeroy, D.D., State Normal School, Emporia, Kansas. 

" The classification and arrangement under General Divisions, Chapters, 
Sections, and Topics, are valuable helps to both teacher and scholar. 
Add to this the aid afforded by the type, and we have little left to desire 
in form for a model text-book. As to the discussion of the subject matter, 
Part 2d, upon Practical Ethics, is especially valuable. Its careful study 
cannot fail to ennoble character, and give a truer conception of the truth 
and value of the Christian religion. 



12 

President J. H. Bkunner, Hiwassee College, Tennessee. 

"On receipt of Gregory's Christian Ethics, I laid the book aside as 
being no better than what we already had in use; but subsequent events 
led me to a thorough review of the book. In no other work have I found 
so many points of excellence. . . 

" We make it a rule to use none but the best books we can find, in the 
several departments of instruction. This rule will require us to place the 
Christian Ethics in our course of study for the next year. 

" I am at loss for language suitably to express my high appreciation of 
the work, both as to its intrinsic matter and its typographical excellence 
as a text-book." 



PRICE, $1.50. 



Liberal terms to Teachers and School Officers desiring copies for examina- 
tion or first introduction. 

Please Address the Publishers, 

Eldredge & Brother, 

17 NORTH SEVENTH STREET, 

PHILADELPHIA, PA. 




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